Sword Art Online: The Rogue
by Viper5x5
Summary: I didn't know what I'd get into when I logged into Sword Art Online but the events that occurred within the game changed me for the better and for the Worse.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Notes: Hello and welcome to my story. Now, information, this is my first so don't expect too much from it and this is a Sword Art Online Fanfic so disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online please support this official release and the upcoming seasons blah blah blah and yeah you get it. Okay first of all this is a self-insert, now I know what you're thinking it's one of these Kirito gets sidelined things, I get the dual wielding and I get the haram. First of all no so we're sticking to canon but the only thing I'll add into this 'new' sword art online is the bow and arrow, and second of all I didn't say I could take one of the haram members away did I? Mwahahahaa! Anyways I would appreciate the help if you showed some criticism but HEALTHY criticism so no badmouthing me ok? And also** ** _ITALICS_** **are usually the thoughts of my character unless specified. Plus anyways I might just drop this story and just go with the one I mentioned a while ago**

 **Chapter 1: The First Day of Survival**

 **Sword Art Online: The Rogue Hunter**

November 6th, 2022 _

I was sitting on my chair reading a small manual on the box I had next to me. It was my brand new tech the NerveGear, I was so giddy just by looking at the thing I was excited about it but before I had gone to start setting it up, I went downstairs to feed my dog, Hunter and let him out of the house. I rubbed my dog's neck as it started to fall to the ground and enjoy the time we had with each other. I smiled before letting him eat his food and petting him one last time before letting him roam outside to do his business. I then went to wash my hands then started to set up my new NerveGear.

It was around 12:30 after I set it up. I read online that Sword Art Online was going to start at around 1 o'clock, I wasn't really sure why it was supposed to be at that time but I realized that maybe it was a good choice by the devs who wanted to start the game off as I was starting to get hungry. After a big lunch enough to last me until dinner I was told to calibrate myself by patting my whole body, I started wondering why we were supposed to do this because wasn't only our consciousness supposed to be transported into the game? I chose to ignore that and continue the process.

My mind slowly started to go blank and time seemed to slow down as I thought about what brought me to this point. I have been a gamer all my life with some sports on the side to keep fit of course, such as archery and soccer, plus a hobby of trying to come up with random moves with knives it wasn't effective but I did learn how to connect my moves and flow smoothly between my slashes, I kept rambling on in my head on memories for a while.

The time came when we had to say two words and those were the words that would change the lives of all the people who would've said them in that exact moment. "LINK START!" Pillars of colors started coming at me at first it looked like I was falling but then the things necessary for me to proceed such as my 5 senses were ticked off one by one in the affirmative. I eventually came to the 'customization menu' it asked whether I was male or female I was thinking about it trolling others in a female persona but I quickly decided against that and chose to pick male and take a quick view at… myself? Wow… so that's what the calibrations were for… cool… I just decided for a quick hair style change along with a dye for my hair making it jet black from my natural brown and blonde-ish color that it had. That was about it I looked good enough not amazing but well enough for the average male. It finally asked me to make a name for my 'Avatar' so I quickly thought of one coming to the conclusion that the name Athlan was suitable and had a good ring to it. It also had a small part of my name within it, and with my selection finished I chose accept and I went on to the world of SAO.

Eventually I arrived in the middle of this town square wearing the starting clothes which were a basic leather tunic along with a shirt of randomized color I fortunately got dark red my favorite color to match up with the nice and dark black, I got excited when I thought of the equipment I would receive and the future and what it would look like, I shook my head and headed off to the first shopkeeper to get myself a starting dagger and hopefully a nice long bow. When I checked there was no bow which saddened me at first but then I thought of the MMORPG series that required you to evolve to get new and better weapons but considering that they at least had a dagger suited my minimal needs. I was choosing to be an AGI and STR build but the former being the most devoted to. I took the chance to spread out the two skill points given to us at the start doing 'One-Handed Dagger' and 'Blade Throwing` to be able to use dagger sword skills and use throwing knives and picks, respectively.

After getting most of what I needed which were a basic dagger and also a bunch of throwing picks. I headed out and made sure that I was ready for the boss fight that I assume should happen in about one week depending on my progress, the progress of the players, and coordination between them but I was to find out that it would not take a week but a month.

I was out in the field where the starter mobs usually spawn I didn't see a lot of people around very few getting some grinding in I managed to get a hand of the sword skills and how to activate them.

I spotted a Frenzy Boar just a few meters ahead I immediately ran towards it dagger in front preparing to thrust at the animal. I aimed for center of mass going for where the heart was located, slowly my dagger had a faint glow saying something was charging up. When I closed in for the kill my dagger was glowing a dark red and then I unleashed a sword skill that I didn't know I had and the dagger plunged deep into the Frenzy Boar until the hilt. The boar's health quickly dropped then the Boar shuddered and shattered into a thousand little crystals. I got the results screen it was basically my materials received and the EXP and the currency of this world called col which I received a low amount of considering that most of the weapons on this floor were pretty cheap.

"Well I best get back to it there won't be much time until a massive amount of players will start venturing out of The Town of Beginnings to get most of the monster fields out here."

Later on while practicing I saw two people one slightly shorter than the other and the other tall and look like a samurai from the olden times. It seemed like the shorter one was teaching the possibly older and taller one how to activate sword skills. I was just watching them from a distance a few meters away from them behind a tree I thought " _Maybe if I observe these two I might be able to learn a thing or two…"_ _While I was watching them I had learned a thing or two from the shorter one which was that timing is key for executing most of the skills which let you feel it charge up then explode forward attacking your target which would cause a lot of damage. "_ _I wonder how that would work for ranged weapons such as bows or knives…"_

 _Eventually the shorter player seemed to notice my presence. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards my location. "Step out now and tell me your intentions before you get hurt!" I was surprised he managed to find my exact location but now I got caught I couldn't do anything so I stepped out to greet the two players._

 _I said very quickly with my hands up "Woah! Woah! No need to be alarmed I was just observing you… -erk I mean I was try to learn things from you by observing t-the things you were doing! That didn't come out right!" The taller samurai seemed to be much more outgoing and friendly when he said "Oh was that all? I thought you were planning to attack us. Thankfully not, now I would like to invite you if you wanted to learn from mister Kirito here."_ _'Wow that quickly? This guy seems to be the type to be a type of guy who would befriend anyone…'_ _I thought. The shorter one known as Kirito replied "Wait, what why did you invite him Klein?" The taller samurai-like man known as Klein said "Hey the more the merrier right?" Kirito sighed but nodded his head eventually._

 _Klein looked at me as if asking once more to join them and I hesitantly nodded. Kirito clearly still suspicious put his sword back in his scabbard and sighed "Well if you were here to learn we might as well hop to it before it gets dark, let's go." As he walked of I thanked Klein for helping me out he replied. "No problem just be sure to repay me, virtually that is." I laughed and agreed to what he said with a smile and continued to follow Kirito throughout the rest of the day._

 _Eventually we ended up next to a cliff while the sun was setting and enjoying the view that the game provided us. "I can't believe that were still in a game right now it all looks so life-like." Klein said, Kirito and I made a small sound as an affirmative. "Oh wait, I never did ask for your name did I? I don't believe I did…" I thought '_ _... hmm oh yeah he hadn't ask for my name…"_ _I said "Well you don't have to ask for my name again. My name is Athlan, I'm a complete newbie to VR games but I did have some Archery training in real life as well as some other experience to help me out in-game so I should be fine especially since I usually play solo in most MMORPGs." Kirito definitely muttered something but I was out of earshot. Then I asked "Now that I've been taught how to play, let me ask a question?" they both nodded '_ _good… I needed some reassurance didn't want to seem rude'_ _"Okay good, is Kirito a Beta Tester? No harm done right?" Kirito then immediately replied "Yes I am a Beta Tester… If I wasn't going to say anything Klein was going to say something." Klein then grunted in affirmative. I laughed at the two for a small bit while we started talking for a while. I stared back at the crimson sky and admired the beauty that this game had offered us and the rest of the ten thousand players in the game._

 _Klein soon stands up and says "Hey… I have to go meet some of my buddies from another game we played together, I don't know what you two will be up to, but if you wanted to you could friend them, then hang out with us for a little while." At first I was surprised he even invited us, Kirito I understand but why me? Not that I would accept his offer I wanted to have some freedom during the start of this game before I would join or even create a group that I would stay with for a while or maybe even permanently which never crossed my mind throughout my whole stay in Aincrad._

 _I said in reply to the offer "I would like to friend you guys if I had the chance but that is pretty much it, I'll be playing solo throughout my time out there in the fields. I also wouldn't want to weigh you guys all down, but thanks for the offer." Kirito also declined the offer as well._

 _Klein then said "Oh that's okay no pressure I can introduce them to both of you next time. Oh yeah, Kirito one of these days I'm going to pay you back for all the help today. Well virtually that is… thanks for everything really…"_

 _Kirito looked shocked at the amount of gratitude he was receiving from Klein and said "It's not a problem really, I mean it."_

 _"Well either way I'll still thank you for this day. Really, and Athlan it was nice meeting you." Klein then held out his hand then Kirito and I shook it I felt the spirit of this man which said that he would fight until the end for his friends a characteristic that I would come to like about this guy. "Well I best be off." He walked off_

 _Kirito said to the both of us. "Hey if there's anything you two need to know or need help on in the future just message me okay?"_

 _"Yep, will do and also before I forget would you two like to become my first friends in this game? … I wouldn't mind if you would decline it." I sent both Klein and Kirito a friend request and they both received a prompt saying 'Yes' or 'No'. They both pressed yes and officially to the system we were considered friends. I was kinda glad they did, I always had a problem when making new friends._

 _"There we go now we are all officially buddies." Klein said "Well see you all later I have to log out." He walked off._

 _Kirito and I turned back to face the cliff of the plateau that we were standing on before a minute later we both heard Klein's voice again. "Huh?" "Hey do you guys have same issue I have? I can't seem to find the log out button anywhere."_

 _Kirito said while checking his own menu "It should be in your main menu or your options it should say 'Log out'… eh? Yeah you're right it's not there must be some sort of glitch, hey Athlan are you having the same problem as well?" I checked my own menu and confirmed that even I had this 'glitch' on my menu._

 _"I bet the devs are freaking out right now." said Klein_

 _"You will too, look its 5:25 didn't you say the pizza was coming at 5:30?" said Kirito. Klein realized this as well and started to panic. "Ack! Really!? Oh no my Teriyaki Mayo Pizza and Ginger Ale!"_

 _I asked "Haven't you guys tried contacting the Game Master or GM?"_

 _Klein replied "I already have but He's not picking up. Is there some other way to log out?"_

 _Kirito said "There is no other way to log out from SAO other than the log out option in the menu."_

 _Klein started to jump around doing poses and shouting random phrases that he thinks would log him out but other than that it was to no avail. Kirito said "Forget it, doing that won't help our situation once you're hooked up to the NerveGear it will intercept the signals from our brains and send it to the machine so that what we move in the virtual world."_

 _I added "The only other option to log out is for someone to pull off the NerveGear from our heads which will sever the connection between the signals from our brain and the NerveGear's microwave signals." Klein said "So what we wait until this bug is fixed or until someone ejects us from the game? Okay then so what about you two? I live alone._

 _I said "I live with my sister so I can wait for her to pull me out of the game." Kirito said "I live my mother and sister". Klein immediately asked us both "Wait you both have sisters? How old are they!?" Kirito and I both replied "Sorry my sister is a sporty type of girl she wouldn't be into you." Klein was definitely desperate "So what I don't care I still wa-" Klein was interrupted as Kirito slammed his knee into his nether region along with me hitting him square in the face._

 _Klein flew backwards tears in his eyes with a bruised face and a probably dysfunctional nether region. Although I did hit him that didn't stop me from laughing at him. He said "Ou- Oh wait getting kneed in the groin doesn't hurt" I was slightly saddened that it didn't hurt him that much but I at least I know that I wouldn't get hurt if the same happened to me. Although after the death game had started the pain that was being reduced or absorbed by the system had been removed and so if you got hit later on you would feel the full force of the hit, which was something that we had to get used too if we wanted to survive._

 _"Hey get serious don't you think it's weird that the devs haven't made any sort of announcement about this bug in the system?" said Kirito. "I was actually wondering about that myself but maybe it will be a public announcement given by the GMs" I replied._

 _Then the ringing of bells could be heard in the distance all of us looked in the direction of the Town of Beginnings and then we all stood still for a moment until our vision slowly faded to white. When my vision cleared up I found myself back in the town plaza right next to the avatars of Kirito and Klein. I asked "Hey guys what just happened why are we back here?" Kirito replied "Someone forced a teleport on us." More and more people started showing up I was getting claustrophobic I hate being near a large amount of people it was why I usually tended to stick solo. Then someone shouted "Hey look up there!" I looked into the sky and there was a red hexagon stating 'WARNING' and sometimes switching to 'system announcement'_ _"I think they'll talk about the bug now."_ _I thought_

 _Klein said "Hey guys what the hell is going on?" The red hexagon then started to cover the entire sky red making the light around me glow red. Then slowly red liquid resembling blood poured out from the hexagon slowly forming a hooded figure with some coming out of the darkness within._

 _The figure spoke loud and audible "Attention Players and Welcome to My World" I immediately assumed this was Kayaba himself considering that he state that this was 'His' world. Then the Figure Stated "I am Kayaba Akihiko and as of this moment I am in complete control over this world." "I am sure most of you by now have noticed an item missing from your main menus – The Log Out button." I was waiting for him so say that 'this is being addressed' or 'This issue will be fixed soon' but… "Let me assure you all. This is not a defect, I repeat, this is not a defect. This is simply how sword art online was meant to be." I felt the need to move but the shock from hearing what he said 'This is not a defect' I was very, very worried what was going to happen next. I looked to my right and saw that Kirito's face was pale white, and Klein with his mouth wide open as he said "He's got to be kidding right?" Other players I heard in the background echoed his thoughts._

 _Kayaba then said: Players you cannot log yourself out of SAO, and outside interference will not happen. If anyone tries to remove the NerveGear from your head the NerveGear will dispatch a deadly microwave signal that will instantly fry your brain."_

 _"He's got to be joking right Kirito?" said Klein and Kirito replied "He's not if the safety's switched of the transmitter can literally fry your brain like a microwave and don't even count on removing the power supply the NerveGear has an internal battery attached to itself." I saw Klein as he seemed completely demoralized from what he just heard. "This is completely insane" He said._

 _Kayaba continued "Despite my warnings families and friends of 213 players have taken off the NerveGear from their heads an unfortunate decision I might add. So as a result 213 players from this game have been vanquished and shall never return to neither the real world nor the virtual one."_

 _I gasped "213!? Why? That's too many especially since we haven't gotten started."_

 _Klein shook his head "That's too many… I don't believe it."_

 _Screens started appearing around Kayaba as he stated "As you can see the media has 24/7 coverage of the situation as well as the 213 unfortunate deaths. At this point its safe to assume that the possibility of your NerveGear being removed have pretty much been extinguished. I hope that this brings you all a little comfort as you try to complete the game."_

 _That was the first time I heard that we had to clear the game I knew that during the Beta Test they only made it to the tenth floor, and that information from the Beta may very well be unreliable. My thoughts were interrupted as Kayaba mentioned "It's important for all of you to remember this: There is no longer a way to revive a player in this game so bear in mind. If your HP drops to zero your avatar will be deleted from the system forever and simultaneously the NerveGear shall destroy your brain."_

 _I realized I had held a breath for so long I was almost suffocating I let out a breath of terror. I realized that what I just heard was true and when it finally dawned on me I got scared, I felt like I wanted to run, but something inside me said to stay, fight and survive, something so wild and fiery burned inside of me, a phoenix that rises from the ashes. I looked around and saw that Kirito had the same resolve to fight and survive this death game._

 _Kayaba pulled out a holographic image of Aincrad and a red dot appeared and he pointed at it while continuing to state_ "Make your way through each dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, and you will advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss of the 100th floor, and you will clear the game."

Most of the players were shouting "How can we believe you!?" and "What do you mean clear the game!?" I honestly was amazed at how stupid some of the comments were. Klein said "Clear all one hundred floors!? That's impossible! The beta testers only made it to one-tenth of the way!"

Kayaba continued to say "Well last but not least, I've left a gift for all of you in your item storage. Please, have a look. Sure enough there it was the item's name was 'Hand Mirror' I selected it and it spawned in my hand I took a look at my avatar's face but then I was engulfed in a bright white light. I panicked, I didn't know what was going on until my vision returned and I got a good look at... my face? "Oh… shit…" I muttered under my breath. I was confused at this point then I suddenly heard.

"Is that you, Klein?"

"Is that you, Kirito?"

I felt slightly left out but I guess it made sense they knew each other a bit longer than they've known me. Not that I cared the loneliness is something I've gotten used to already but still trying to prevent. For what it's worth I smiled knowing that they cared for each other atleast.

"But… How?"

Kirito said "The scan. There's a high-density signal device inside the NerveGear rig. It can see what my face looks like, but how's it know my height and body type?

Klein replied. "When you first put the NerveGear on, it had to do this... calibration thing." He continued as he started patting himself. "It asked you to touch your body all over like this, remember?"

"Oh yeah you're right makes sense now!" said Kirito

"But why would somebody do this? What's the point!?" Asked Klein

I pointed at the hooded figure and said "I think he's about to tell us."

They both looked at me then looked at the hooded figure emitting steam from the darkness within.

The hooded figure then stated "Right now, you are probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design." I heard Kirito say something but I ignored it. "As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." After Kayaba finished speaking he disappeared and the center of the town was silent.

I heard the shattering of glass probably from someone dropping his or her mirror on the ground. Then screams erupted from the gigantic crowd in the plaza. I almost didn't notice that Kirito and Klein had sprinted of in some random direction. I decided to follow them for the sake of my own life and my own curiosity. I arrived in a dark alleyway and saw two player probably them. What seems to be Kirito looked over who I think was Klein's shoulder and greeted me.

"Ah Athlan good to see we didn't lose you during the panic."

I replied "Getting out of there was for the best. I'm pretty sure the Brave ones will start to grind most of the mobs outside of this village so I was thinking of moving on to another one to prevent getting swarmed. Plus, I hate being around too many people and being in physical contact with them, I just get the chills or something.

Kirito then said to Klein "See Klein even Athlan has got the same idea. I want to go to the next village and I want both of you to come with me." Klein was clearly confused. "If what he said is true, and I think it is, the only way we're going to survive in here is by making ourselves as strong as possible. In an MMORPG, the money you can earn... the EXP... Once the game starts up, there's only so much of that stuff to go around. Look, the fields around the Town of Beginnings are going to be hunted clean soon. If we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. Don't worry, I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even if I'm level one, I can get there easy."

Klein seemed to get the message and said "Thanks, but... you know those friends of mine I was telling you about... we stood in line for a whole night to buy this, and... They're back at the Plaza, somewhere... and I can't leave 'em. Sorry. Can't ask a guy I just met to risk his life for a bunch of strangers, can I? So, don't worry about me. Get your ass to the next village. I'll be fine! Last game I played, I ran a guild, so I'm more than prepared. And with all the stuff you taught me, I'll get by, no sweat!"

Kirito seemed surprised that Klein would go so far just to protect his friends. As I watched, I felt a lot of respect for Klein going this far to help his buddies out. He was someone in the Future that I could rely on. Kirito then turned to me and asked. "Do you want to come with me?"

I accepted his proposal and he said "Thanks, just follow my lead and we should be able to get to the next village by the end of the day."

"Hey Klein if you get into trouble just message me okay?" said Kirito as he started to rundown the alleyway with me in tow.

Klein answered in affirmative and added "Kirito! I..." Kirito stopped and turned around I was a bit father than he was but I turned as well. "Hey... Kirito. Um, you look better like this. Way cooler than your avatar. You too Athlan I didn't know you were foreign you better tell me about it sometime." I was slighty annoyed by that but ignored it. I was not foreign, just a mix of blood.

Kirito replied "Yeah, and I think that scruffy face fits you ten times better, too."

I replied "Yeah, sure, I'll tell you about it someday."

Kirito started to run down the alleyway once more before he turned around one last time to see that Klein was no longer there. I have a feeling that he felt guilty about leaving the guy. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel the same but I think he's taking it harder on himself than he should be.

As we exited the town I found myself lagging behind him from time to time before I would catch up again. It looked like he was running away from the guilt that was slowly catching up to him. I'm pretty sure it'll hit him the moment we arrive in the next village.

Suddenly, two wolves spawned on the path we were headed on. Kirito unsheathed his sword and I did the same with my dagger and throwing picks. I saw Kirito easily kill the first wolf, and I was about to the same with mine.

I aimed my throwing picks and pulled back with my arm, the picks then started to glow a pale blue and then I let go of two picks and they both hit the eyes of the Wolf which cried out in pain. I charged with my dagger at the ready to finish the job. I stabbed the wolf in the neck and then it started to glow and was about to shatter to pieces I jumped over the wolf while pulling my dagger out which with the momentum of my leap sent the wolf flying forward in the air as it shattered into pieces and died dropping both of my throwing picks which I picked up from the ground while recovering from my leap. I continued to run with Kirito to the next village.

" _I will not be conquered by this game!"_

" _I will Live on to Hunt my Prey"_

I raised my dagger and pointed it towards the sky.

" _And my prey is you! Kayaba Akihiko! I'll hunt you down! And finish you off myself!"_

 **There! That's my first chapter to my story that I'll most likely continue to write as long as nothing happens to me or my schedule. My schedule for uploading will be at least one every other week or once a week I don't know but writing something like this is going to be a challenge and will occupy my time so please forgive me if I deviate from the schedule thanks!**

 **Reminder: This is my first story, so this will most likely get better over time but I'm not exactly sure.**

 **Next is some points I need to make**

 **Canon is sacred I will not deviate.**

 **That doesn't mean I can't take one of the Harem members i.e. Lisbeth, Silica, Sinon, Leafa, etc you get the point or even the mysterious Argo which is a favorite of mine from the SAO games and such because of her charm and honor.**

 **This should be obvious but this is a self-insert and the character is modeled after me, some facts here may be slight changes from real life just to make sure I don't give personal info, I'm sure you all understand. There will obviously be Characters flaws with my character to make the narrative go smoothly and to give some depth to my character.**

 **I've only seen the Anime so I'm basing my knowledge on that. If you point something out in the future I'll keep it in mind.**

 **This story will only extend to the Aincrad Arc if I find that a lot of you guys like this then I'll continue to the next Arcs as well.**

 **This story will be written in First Person unless I forget then enjoy some Third Person.**

 **That should be most of what I need to address any question PM me and I'll talk to you about it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back to my story this is the second chapter. Thanks for continuing to read my story so far I appreciate it. Now here we go!**

December 2nd, 2022

It's been a month now since the first day or at least I think so. I still want to forget what happened on the first day though… "We'd arrived at Tolbana the town closest to the labyrinth. Tolbana had this old medieval town-ish kind of feel to it, it really was peaceful within the small, but important town.

Today, Kirito and I were going to explore the labyrinth. While exploring we heard some strange noises in the distance, sounds of clashing and stabbing. When Kirito and I saw a hooded player fighting Ruin Kobold Troopers we started running towards him or her to help out.

If I had to describe how Kobold sentinels look like I would say that they're oversized rats that suddenly learned how to stand on two feet and crawled into some sort of armor. I really, really hate vermin, I'm not scared of them, I just hate them.

"Hey Kirito how do you want to handle this!? Same patterns as we discussed!?" I asked

He replied "Yeah! I'll knock them on the ground and you stab them through their helmets!"

I spun my dagger and answered "Okay, I got you buddy, leave 'em to me!"

As we raced towards the Sentinels I spared a glance towards the hooded player. Her movements seemed extremely sluggish and judging by the way she attacks she likes to use one type of skill over and over again to either damage or finish enemies off. I have no objections to it but using one skill continuously will make your body tired and sometimes using a sword skill is not always the best course of action.

Kirito managed to slice one of the Sentinels with his anneal blade and it had gone off balance I tackled it to the ground without much effort and stabbed through the slits in the helmets with my new dagger that I managed to get a hold off from one of the traders. I heard the satisfying squeal of the Sentinel and immediately pulled my dagger out running for the next sentinel that Kirito. Kirito and I worked like clockwork until all of the Sentinels had been destroyed.

"Hey, nice work Kirito" I said.

"Thanks, you too" he replied.

We both heard a rustle of cloth behind us as we both turned to the cloaked player. I spoke up first.

"No need to thank us, but are you okay? You seem to be extremely tired."

"I-I'm okay now i-if you don't mind I'll continue my search for the Boss door" he… or she… replied. While holding herself up with her rapier.

"Hey if you're acting like that you should just return to the town to rest up and restock on supplies. I mean look at yourself your body is asking for a nice warm bed…" I just noticed her smell and… dear god I hope I don't have to smell it ever in my life! "…and a nice warm bath with… _extra_ soap." I saw her head poke up when I mentioned the word 'bath' to her but I ultimately ignored it. I took a good look at her and saw that her shoulder width wasn't as large as a male's plus her voice definitely seemed to be female so this interested me.

"I don't need you to help me, so just leave me alone… please." She replied as she started to walk off.

I respected her request as she started to walk off, wobbling with every step. I walked over to Kirito as I said

"Okay I know you're going to ask me if we should follow her right?" he nodded "Okay then… In three… two…" Kirito looked at me confused I just raised a finger at him to his surprise. "…one…zero" I heard the collapsing of cloth as I said zero, I looked behind me and saw that the player had collapsed from exhaustion. "There we go just as expected." Kirito just gave me a look as if asking 'how did I know?' "I know what you're going to ask so just think of it as intuition or just a very good observation." Kirito just hesitantly nodded as I continued. "Now do you mind if we get the girl out of here?"

"Yeah let's get her out of here before those sentinels respawn" Kirito replied.

"Oh yeah, before we go who's going to carry her?" I asked "I don't think I can and you have a higher strength stat than me so I'll leave her to you okay?"

"Yeah, let's get her out of the labyrinth and into town." He replied.

We walked towards the hooded player to find that she was knocked out cold. I checked her for a pulse out of curiosity and found that the system actually registered the sensation and I felt her pulse. Kirito picked her up bridal-style and started to jog towards the exit. As we jogged towards the exit I said. "If she were awake right now she'd be screaming at you to let go of her right now. Hehe." I saw Kirito's face go beet red as he realized the point that I just brought up along with the way he was carrying this mysterious female player.

"Hey don't worry about it at least we're getting her out of harm's way right?" to which Kirito replied. "Yeah… right…"

We both eventually got out of the labyrinth and took a rest in a nearby forest within a clearing. The player was resting on the tree while Kirito and I waited until she regained consciousness.

"Hey Athlan, how did you know that she was going to go unconscious just then?" Kirito asked.

"Well gain enough experience with restlessness and fatigue you're bound to know how someone looks like when he's tired and about to be rendered unconscious." I replied as I continued I asked "Hey do we have anyway on how to obtain information in this game?"

"Well other than obtaining the information ourselves other players can act as Information Brokers so that they can sell information from the game. The only truly reliable info broker that I know is Argo but she's a pain to deal with sometimes…" Kirito replied.

"Well thanks for the info I might have to seek out this 'Argo' myself to see what I can get from her… mind telling her about me?" I asked. I saw that Kirito visibly fidgeted when I asked him to tell me what this Argo was like, I can already conclude that it'll either be a fun time when making conversation or just one big pain in the ass, hopefully I can expect the former to show.

We both heard cloth rustling behind us and we both turned our heads to find out that our sleeping princess was waking up. Now it was for us to decide how to handle our current situation. "Hey… so how should we handle this?" I asked.

"I don't really know, I'm pretty sure she'll only remember some of what happened before she was knocked out so she might act on instinct if she sees us. So in other words we have to seem calm and off guard when we approach her when she sees us." Kirito replied

"Oh okay, I see, I think I can handle her better than you can so sit back and watch unless I get attacked by her okay?" I asked and Kirito nodded in response.

I walked out from our hiding spot and took a seat across from the player. I tried to act as normal as possible so that she would not act as rash on me and think that I'm a threat. I pretended to just look at the player and saw that she fidgeted a small bit. She seems to be nervous there's no helping it now she sees me anyways.

"I know you're awake don't try to pretend to be asleep." I said in a calm voice.

When I said that she moved in a flash and immediately stood over me with her hand stretched out as if… she had her rapier… oh thank god! We moved her rapier if not I think I would be dead or at least held at gun no sword point? Well I took the opportunity of her not having her rapier by grabbing her hand and lifting myself up with it. When I grabbed it she squealed with surprise as I pulled myself up.

"Thanks for the help. I appreciate it. Now that you're up let me clear up anything that I'm pretty sure you're about to ask me. No I didn't touch you the guy hiding behind that tree did." I pointed towards the tree where Kirito was hiding. "No he didn't do anything inappropriate, and where you are as of right now is a small clearing outside the labyrinth that we had to drag you out of when you were still unconscious. I think that's about it right?" I clarified. She nodded her head. "Good now that that is clarified, I'll let Kirito here ask you some questions." I looked towards the tree and shouted. "Hey buddy! Should be good to come out now you can talk to her now!

Kirito walked out with a hand on his head I think he was flustered by my blunt and straightforward approach on how to handle this situation.

"Hey so how long have you been in there?" Kirito asked the player.

"Three days… I think…" She answered

"Three days!?" Kirito and I gasped.

"How have you been getting proper rest in there!? There is no way a person can keep going for three days straight!" Kirito asked

"I have been using the safe zones as resting areas so that I wouldn't have to go out of labyrinth." She replied.

"Going to sleep in safe zones is not an effective way of getting rest it's uncomfortable and has no bonus buff if you sleep there!" Kirito exclaimed. "And anyways your weapons should be destroyed if you only went in there with one and your nutrition such as food how did you sustain yourself?" He asked.

"I bought multiple store bought rapiers along with a lot of rations for me to eat." The player answered.

"That would make sense but rations are only something like a snack to raise your health along with it being food to keep your mind from complaining." Kirito said.

"Well is that all? I will be heading back towards labyrinth then." She said with confidence until she stumbled and nearly fell to her knees before I caught her.

"Hey, you're not in the best shape if you really want to die then go ahead and get out of my sight _then_ you're not my problem, but since I'm here right now I still have a chance to change things and make sure you live, live to see another day and get out of this game so right now you are my problem and I will do anything in my power to fix it." I said with a clear and serious voice. There are things in the past that I can't fix anymore and things in the past that I have lost because I failed to fix it so now I take action to make sure I don't lose anything anymore.

She seemed surprised by what I said, a stranger who doesn't know a thing about her and that stranger is worrying over her? Yeah, it makes sense why she would be surprised. Then as if my observations were read by her. "Why are you worrying about me? You don't know a thing about me and what I don't need is you telling me that. We won't make it out of this game one fifth of the total population in this world has been eliminated in the first month and we have to go one hundred floors up how long do you think it will take before all of us will end up dead?"

To my surprise Kirito actually spoke up. "Well if you think we can't beat the game, we should at least go up as far as we can before we all reach our end. So I would like to invite you to the first floor boss fight meeting that will be held in Tolbana, tomorrow so stay alive until after the first boss fight then if you want you can go die if you think that beating the first floor boss won't give hope to those in the town of beginnings. If we give hope to those players more of them will be willing to fight and we can ascend Aincrad and beat this game."

I added. "So if you want we can help you recover your strength then all three of us can go fight the boss. While you recover I would recommend you take…" I just remembered the foul stench that I smelled when I passed her while Kirito was carrying her. "…A very long and thorough bath. Now though let's get you to the nearest village and get you a place to temporarily stay." I finished

As the three of us walked to the village I felt like I forgot to ask that player something but I ignored the feeling, I don't think it was anything important anyways. I think that this player will be motivated to live the moment we clear this floor, along with her skill she seems to like to take authority when she does something. That's why she immediately tried to subjugate me when I was in a vulnerable position to show to me that she was in charge. Although thank god she didn't have her rapier in her hand or else I think things might've been more awkward than need it needed to be.

When we got home I made sure to ask her if she had someplace to stay but sadly she didn't so I asked if she could get her own lodgings in the town but sadly she didn't have enough so I just covered any extra expenses for her home. Kirito and I left her be for the night to let her get some rest so we went back to our own homes to go sleep for the next day.

December 3rd 2022 - Early Morning

When I woke up the next day, I just changed my clothes from my casual clothes to my battle clothes. I put on my Black shirt along with some gray pants and just equipped my armor to save me the hassle of putting it on myself. I think keeping a small habit like manually changing clothes in the morning keeps a small amount of normalcy in our lives. I did my morning habits and just walked out of my room to knock on Kirito's door to check if he was awake. When I did there was no answer so either he was downstairs or just a heavy sleeper.

I went downstairs just to get myself some breakfast. I went to the nearby café and ordered some tea and a fish based dish. Eventually Kirito wandered down in his own combat clothes. I greeted him and we both were going to have some breakfast for the morning before that boss strategy meeting thing that was going to happen at five o'clock. I decided to make some small talk while we were waiting for our food.

"Hey so what do you think of that girl we saved the other day?" I asked

"Wait what!? That player was a girl!?" he realized.

"Seriously? How could you not have realized when she talked with the pitch of a girl along with having the body structure of one?" I face palmed. "No but really? Did you really not observe the obvious?" He shook his head and I sighed. "God did you even study your biology?" He shook his head again. "God you're hopeless… academically anyways, at least you're good here." I said in deadpan.

Our food arrived soon after that and we decided to do some more grinding for the rest of the day and we were able to gain some levels while we did so. Eventually it was around the afternoon around four o'clock we went back to town and I decided to sit down on the bench in the town square while Kirito decided to lean against the wall. I eventually got bored and decided to walk over to Kirito and ask about this information broker Argo.

As I approached I heard Kirito say. "What you get bored over there?" I just made a thumbs up sign to him.

"Yeah I did, so?" He didn't reply so I continued. "Hey about the other day, you remember you mentioned this Argo character?" He nodded.

"Are you able to contact with him or her?" I asked

"No I haven't seen her yet." He replied.

"Ah… that's okay and I guess by you saying 'her' I'm guessing Argo's a woman eh?" I said

"Yep." Kirito responded.

I suddenly felt two hand on my shoulder until I suddenly felt a weight suddenly weigh down my body. I looked up above me as I saw this girl on my shoulders. I took hold of her legs so that she wouldn't this girl wouldn't fall, it took some time but I was able to balance her and hold her up properly. I looked up to see a mousy looking girl with whiskers drawn on her face and a wide grin on her face as she looked down at me.

"Nyahahaha Kii-bou, I finally found ya! And who's yer friend here eh?" she said.

I was pretty sure that this was Argo due to how Kirito reacted with a hand on his head and a sigh when she greeted him. So I greeted her in kind.

"Hi, I'm pretty sure you must be Argo correct?" I asked

"Hmm? Yep, that's me! You must be pre~tty perceptive if you've figured out who I am or Kii-bou here jus' told ya 'bout me. How 'bout you? Who are you?" She asked

"I'm Athlan nice to meet you. Now could you please get off my shoulders?" I said.

"Aww you're no fun, but anyways let me reintroduce myself." She said as she hopped off of me and pointed at herself. "I'm Argo, an Information broker, if you need some info just talk to me about it." Argo said with a smile on her face. She then tossed me a small handbook. "Keep that it's a useful handbook that should contain the basics in SAO." She finished. I think I'll definitely give this handbook a read before I sleep tonight.

"Yeah and I don't expect that info plus this guidebook to be free you gave to me to be free huh?" I said while tossing some col at her as she caught it mid-air. "Take that as a gesture of good will between you and me, I'm pretty sure you and me will be seeing each other many times in the future." I finished with a grin on my face.

"Oh? You're a good sport I think this business relationship will go just swell if this is how you are, but right now my real reason for being here is your friend Kirito here." Said Argo.

"Hmm? What do you need from me Argo?" Kirito asked.

"Remember that guy who wanted that Anneal Blade of yours? Well he just raised the price to 29,800 col." Argo said in a serious tone. I guess when it comes down to it she'll always take business very seriously.

"Huh!? That much!? That is way too much for just one sword!?" Kirito reacted I reacted to the news just about the same.

"Yeah so are you going to sell that sword of yours?" Argo asked.

"Wait, hold on a bit Argo let me think about it for a second." After Kirito said that he immediately turned to me. "Hey so what do you think? Should I sell the sword?" He asked.

"I don't think you should, at least not now. Right now you need that sword for the boss fight, because we will need all the strength we can get. That's my recommendation I'll leave it to you to decide." I replied crossing my arms.

After saying that he nodded and he turned to Argo. He had a quiet conversation with Argo I couldn't hear anything but he didn't give the sword to her so that's a good thing. Eventually he finished talking to the info broker acting as a middle man? No middle woman I guess? I don't know, anyways when he was finished he walked back over to me and said. "Come on Athlan let's get to the meeting."

I just followed him to the amphitheater looking area in Tolbana since I didn't know where it was. On the way to the amphitheater I decided to ask about the offer Argo offered to us or more specifically him.

"Hey… um… How did you respond to Argo back there eh? What did you say?"

"You want me to give you my exact words?" Kirito replied and I nodded.

"Okay then… I don't want to sell it right now but once the first floor boss fight is over see if he still wants the sword, I might sell it to him then." He said.

"Hmm… good so you leave open the opportunity to sell it in the future huh?" I said

"Erm… yeah something like that, anyways we're almost there let's find a place to sit down and wait for the meeting to start." Kirito replied.

Eventually it was around 5:30 in the afternoon, both Kirito and I were seated near the top of the amphitheater we were both waiting there for the meeting to commence. Out of the corner of my vision I realized that the player we saved yesterday had actually come to the meeting. As I kept looking at her I realized that I forgot to ask her for her name on the way back to town. "So that's what has been nagging me when we walked her to town… I guess I was too preoccupied in keeping the girl safe. "I thought.

After a while a blue haired player had gone up on the stage, he had a knightly look with a sword and shield. He seemed to be the leader of the raiding party so I decided to listen in on what he was having going to say to the fairly large crowd of players in the amphitheater.

The Blue Knight started to speak "Okay, people! Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started. So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming. Good to see you. My name is Diabel, and in this game, the job I rolled is knight!" This Diabel guy seems to be a very good leader, I'm sure if he lives throughout this battle he will become a fine leader in clearing the game.

Although as Diabel made his introduction multiple people started to laugh at his proclamation about his 'job'. The crowed started laughing at him, teasing him, and saying stuff such as "Dude, there's no job system in this game!" or "Is there any point to why we're here?" Although I understood why he said that, it was both to gain everyone's attention and to relieve the tension in the air with a small joke. When Diabel noticed that everyone was paying attention he said.

"You guys want to hear this or not?" Once he said that everyone in the stadium went quiet to listen to what he had to say. "Right, anyway here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today. First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to Floor Two. The next step is we have to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game! Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here! Do you agree or not?!" Everyone in the stadium started to applaud or whistle for a while and once it died down Diabel continued with his speech. "Okay, glad to hear you're all with me on this, now let's figure out how we're going to beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six. A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a floor boss. We need a raid group made up of multiple parties."

Beside me I hear Kirito gasp at the announcement of the requirement of teams. I was a small bit worried as well at the announcement but I didn't think we would have a full party either way. I looked around us to see if any of the other groups had spots for us but it seemed all the parties were full. I looked to my left and saw that the girl was still sitting there alone. I tapped Kirito's shoulder and pointed towards her. Kirito nodded and scooted over to the girl, to I think invite her over to our party.

I heard Kirito ask her. "You got left out too, huh?"

She replied "Not even. I wasn't left out. It's just everyone seems like they're already friends."

I chuckled and said. "Cheers to the socially inept huh?"

Kirito smiled a bit and said. "So you're solo too? You want to form a party with me? You heard what the guy just said. We can't beat the boss on our own, and it would only be for this fight." He sent her a request to join our party and she hesitantly pressed the accept button. I looked up in the top left corner to see her name come below Kirito's.

"Asuna, huh?" I murmured

But then Diabel's voice caught my attention. "All right. Looks like everyone's teamed up. Now then..." Before he could continue he was interrupted by someone in the crowd.

"Hold up a sec!" I looked up and behind me to see a man with spikey orange hair jump down into the bottom of the amphitheater and turned around to continue saying "My name's Kibaou, got that? Before we take on the boss, I want to get something off my chest! We all know about the two thousand people who died so far, yeah?" I did know about it sad indeed but those people were just stupid either killing themselves or going out into the field with all the confidence in the world but to see that confidence can only take you so far. "Well, some of you need to apologize to them right now!" He continued.

Diabel seemed to get the gist of what he was saying and said. "Kibaou, I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the ones who were ex-beta testers, right?" He asked.

Kibaou the orange cactus said with an angry tone in his voice. "'Course I mean them! The day this stupid ass game started, the beta guys just got up and vanished, right?" When he said that I saw that it got Kirito's attention as he put his head up to look at Kibaou. "They ditched all us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests too! They were the only ones getting stronger in here. This whole time, they've ignored us like we were nothing. Hell, I bet there are some of them here! Come on out, beta testers!" At this point most of the crowd in the amphitheater was starting to get riled up and was following what this idiot was saying. I got really mad but decided to keep it on the down low for now… "We should make them apologize to us, and we should make them all give up their money and the items they got! They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us! Why should we?!" I looked over to Kirito on my left and saw that he was either scared or worried from what he had just heard. I needed to stop this soon.

Before I could think of something a tall black man stood up and spoke to Kibaou. "Can I say something?" No one said anything so he took it as a yes. "Hey, my name's Agil. Kibaou right? I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths because they didn't help them, and you want them to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?" He finished.

"No you didn't." Kibaou replied.

Agil then took out a small handbook then said. "The item store hands these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one, didn't you?" He asked.

"Yeah, I got one so what?" Kibaou answered.

"You know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers. Listen up! Everyone had equal access to this information." Agil said while tapping the guidebook. "Even so, lots of players still died. I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here 'cause I want to learn from those players' deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we're going to beat the boss." He finished. Kibaou got the point and grunted then backed off to sit at the bottom of the amphitheater. Agil was satisfied and sat down.

Diabel saw that the argument was finished and continued with the meeting. "Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" It was quiet so he took it as a yes. "For info on the boss, it's all in here - the latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about." He took out his own guidebook and pointed at it. "According to the book, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions - the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Illfang carries an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword type weapon called a Talwar. He can change his patterns of attack, too. That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the EXP; and whoever gets an item, gets to keep it. Any objections?" The terms were fair and everything seemed to be in order so no one said anything. "Good! We leave tomorrow at ten in the morning! Meeting adjourned, people!" Everyone at the meeting started to go their separate ways.

Kirito and I walked with the girl in tow. I just noticed that smell again oh god, did she not take my advice? I started to gag like I was throwing up. I needed to get away from this smell and now! I walked up to Kirito and said. "Mind if I go take a walk around town? I need to get something from the store." What I said was not entirely a lie I did need to restock on my throwing pins.

"Hmm? Yeah sure you can go make sure you get me some extra potions as well ok?" I nodded in response to his request and walked off but before I did I made sure to ask.

"Hey if I get lost where should I meet you?"

"Oh, yeah right, I will meet you in the inn, should be good enough right?" He replied.

"Yep okay thanks." I said as I started to get away from the smell as much as I can.

I was walking around town and saw that some of the people at the meeting were giving their introductions to their teammates and people like Diabel and Kibaou drinking together. Not much really caught my interest I stopped by the general store as I said and bought some extra potions for Kirito as well. I walked back into town and aimlessly wandered around. I got bored and decided to lie down on the grass to get some rest in me. When I woke up it was around seven o'clock I didn't really know how much time had passed I think about an hour or so. I got up and stretched I started to head back towards the inn as I heard I small conversation down the alley. I peered down it and saw that Kirito and Asuna were eating together. I didn't want go down there for two reasons: I respect their privacy, and second I don't want to smell anything. I was getting hungry as well so I pulled out some of my own 'Rye Bread' and started eating some of it, I got bored so I listened in on their conversation.

"… I didn't come here to eat good food." Asuna said.

"Okay, why are you here?" Kirito asked.

"So I don't lose sight of who I am. I don't want to lock myself in a room in the Town of Beginnings and slowly rot away. I'd rather stay the way I am till the last moment. Even if a monster beats me and I die, I won't lose to this game or this world, no matter what." She answered.

I thought about what she said and asked myself that question. I'm here because I don't want to be useless. I've hung unto others for too long that when things turn for the worse I usually run and let others handle my situation. It gotten to the point where I rely onto other to do my job while I hang back and provide what little support I can. Although, I've taken steps here and both the real world to overcome this problem, from here on I'll be the one to take charge, I'll help all those I can make sure they live and if I must kill other players if I have to. I find ways to exploit the system just to get the odds in my favor. Players can say that I've gone rogue. That's basically why I'm here to help others and to make sure I never become useless.

While I was thinking I didn't notice that they had both gotten up and started to walk out of the alleyway. I decided to run as fast and as quiet as I could. I slowed down and turned around to start walking back towards the alleyway nonchalantly to not arouse any suspicion I was listening in. Both Asuna and Kirito had walked out of the alleyway and I ran up to them to say hi.

"Hi." What else did you think I was going to say?

"Hey Athlan what's up?" Kirito asked.

"Nothing much just some normal stuff." I answered.

"Oh alright…" He muttered.

"Oh yeah here you go potions as you requested." I tossed him a bag and it clinked with the potions inside when he caught it.

"Thanks." He said. I just nodded in response.

I turned to Asuna and just asked her one question. "How have not yet taken a bath!?"

"There was no bathroom in that inn. I'm sorry…" She sheepishly admitted.

"Well if there's no bath over at your place do you want to come over to our house to just take a bath?" I offered.

I was immediately grabbed by the collar of shirt as she excitedly asked me. "You have a bath!? Can I use it please? Please?"

Kirito then chimed in to say. "Do I have a say in this?"

I answered. "No you don't because she really needs to get a bath and I'm sure you will agree."

He sighed and reluctantly agreed. As Asuna was very happy and relieved that she would be receiving a bath in about 4 days I guess.

When we arrived home Kirito pointed Asuna towards the bathroom and sprinted towards in while taking her boot off hopping on one foot. After a while we went upstairs and into our bedrooms we could both hear the bathroom with Asuna obviously enjoying her time in there. I just took one look at Kirito with a smirk on his face and with his hand on his chin.

"I hope you're not thinking of anything Kirito." I just had to put it bluntly.

He shook his head. "Huh? I don't know what you're talking about."

I chuckled "Yeah, yeah of course you don't."

While we were waiting for Asuna to finish up taking her bath, someone knocked at our door.

"Who do you think that is?" I asked Kirito.

He sighed. "Argo… "

"Oh, oh no, erm… Kirito? " I got his attention and I pointed towards the bathroom door. He got what I was trying to say and Kirito got real worried real fast. "We have to get Argo out of here and fast." Kirito swiftly agreed. "So…. Who's answering the door?" Kirito took initiative and answered the door.

He opened the door and as predicted it was Argo standing there with a grin on her face.

"Heya Kii-bou, I came to talk to you again about that sword again the buyer just said to increase the price too…" She stood on her toes to whisper what the price was now. I couldn't hear it obviously but the look on Kirito's face confirmed that the amount of col was way past the actual worth of his anneal blade.

After Argo was done she looked over Kirito's should and saw me sitting on the bed in the room. I waved at her and realized what the wide grin on her face was for. "Ooh? What's this? Kii-bou I didn't know you swing this way. Oh well… I thought I had a chance with you." She sighed.

I chuckled at her comment. "Oh? You want to have a piece of Kii-bou here? I'd be glad to share with you." I grinned. She flushed for a bit before she composed herself. She tried to change the topic and looked over to the bathroom and saw that it was being used. Kirito noticed this as well and stepped in front of the door.

"Kii-bou? What are you trying to hide in the bathroom huh? C'mon let me in." She said playfully.

"What? I'm not hiding anything." As he said this Argo started to push him out of the way to get through the door. But Argo was able to slip through him and quickly entered the bathroom. Soon after a scream was heard most likely coming from Asuna. I felt sorry for the poor girl. I decided to let the fallout of this fall on Kirito, so a faked a yawn and said. "Ahhh, these girls are taking to long I'm going to head to my room and get some rest, tell Asuna I said goodnight."

"Oh? Ok goodnight Athlan." Kirito replied.

I waved a goodbye as I slipped out of the room as quiet as possible. I headed to my room to get some needed rest. I think Kirito got an idea of why I stepped out when I heard a door slam open and quietly close soon after. I snickered and went to sleep for the night.

December 4th 2022

I got up from bed and took off my sleeping clothes and equipped my combat gear. I decided to grab some breakfast before I went out into the field and did some last minute training. I got some bread and fish from the inn ate it and set off towards the field outside of town. I went into the nearby forest and I saw a group of little nepents, I slowly moved up to the nepents even if they did not hunt by sight they are still able to hear and see to an extent. I was able to get close enough that I could attack with my dagger and throw my throwing picks with ease.

I brought up my left hand with three throwing pinks wedged between each of my fingers. I had to do this quick enough so that I catch all three by surprise. Thankfully all three of the little nepents were pretty close to each other. I drew my arm back and released the throwing picks into the air they all hit their intended targets in rapid succession. All of the little nepents were stunned by the attack so I jumped out of the hiding spot I was in and attacked the little nepent who had the lowest amount of health. I slashed at the stems that it used as arms. I cut one off while slashing at its body when I was finished with its arm. The nepent's health had decreased and it started to shiver before shattering into pieces. I quickly moved onto the next nepent who was nearly recovered as I spun and slashed from top to bottom getting a critical hit and killing it instantly. The last nepent had recovered and used its long arms to hit me from afar I dodged the first strike but I did not dodge the second attack from its other arm and got hit in the shoulder, I was pushed back by a few inches as I started to run towards it again. The nepent did the same attack and I was able to dodge both attacks with ease. "The best way to succeed is to learn from your mistakes!" I shouted. I reached the little nepent and grabbed it by the arm and cut it off with my dagger. As the stem fell down I cut off the other stem with my dagger and a grin on my face. I stopped in front of the nepent as it couldn't do anything to attack. I kicked it down and let it wriggle on the ground with no way of getting up. "I'm getting bored, I shouldn't put you out of your misery if you actually feel the pain you should be feeling right now but you can't so consider this a favor." I stabbed my dagger into the plant and it struggled before it died and shattered into polygons.

I continued to hunt other monsters in the area, once I felt like I was ready for the upcoming fight I decided to head back to town to grab some food. While picking out where to go eat I checked Kirito's status on the map I saw that he was with Asuna doing something together I didn't think that it was important to join him so I let him be alone with the girl.

I waved over the waitress to my table as I ordered some black tea and fish again. As the waitress walk off my eyes were suddenly covered by someone. I put my hand up to my face and felt slender fingers covering my face. I knew there was only one person I know who would do this.

"Argo? Is that you?" I asked.

Then the hands covering my eyes were removed and Argo stepped in front of me and sat down on the other chair across from me.

"Right ya are Ann!" She said cheerfully.

"Oh god why does my nick name sound like a woman's?" I complained.

"Well because if you were put in a dress with some longer hair you would be a convincin' gal Athlan." She replied while examining me.

"Well, I do have my mother's looks. So anyways, why are you here? " I said while pointing at her.

"Can't little 'ol me wish a friend good luck, and really? Fish again?" She sighed.

"First of all thanks, secondly fish is good, brain food after all and easy for me to digest. Lastly, I knew someone was watching me so it was you." I replied.

"Okay then, oh yeah mind if you pay for lunch?" Argo asked me oh so politely while ignoring the last thing I said.

"You know the saying right?" I said.

"Yeah, yeah 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' whatever." She waved over the waitress and ordered her meal. When I looked at the prompt for me to pay for it while showing the amount I just winced at the price. That's going to hurt my poor wallet. "So, what do you want? I will give you anything or… do anything you want." She said with a suggestive tone.

It was hard to keep my face straight with that last offer but I really wanted to know if there was a way to use my arms and legs as weapons, like martial arts and stuff, but first… "Yeah, sure I'll take that last offer come on. " I said. Grabbing her arm and pulling her along.

"Eh? W-wait what? Stop that, let go of me!" Argo started to squirm and twist to get out of my grasp.

I let go of her arm then turned around to give her the most mischievous grin possible, as I looked at Argo, her face was flushed in a crimson red. "Well… I did say I would take up that last offer you made, didn't you offer me that you would give me or rather… _Do anything_ I wanted?" And with that the look on her face didn't get any better.

"I-I didn't think you would do something this rash ya idiot!" She shouted.

"Rash? Pffft. I wouldn't say what I was going to do with you be considered rash, Argo. I was just going to ask you if there was anyway for me to be able to use my arms and legs as weapons. Like, martial arts?" I asked.

"Oh god, what you were going to do to me is sounds like a better option now…" She sighed.

"Oh please, get your head out of the gutter, I wouldn't do such a thing to such an elegant lady such as yourself. That would be indecent." I said sarcastically. "But if you really want it then, sure I'll oblige you." Argo's face got even redder.

"You might be the first person who I can actually snark with. Argh, you know what? Okay then I'll show you the martial arts skill." I smiled at her for accepting my request. "On one condition though." She said while raising her pointer finger. "You can't blame me for whatever happens okay?"

I got worried due to the warning but I had to get that skill so I reluctantly agreed. "Okay then, I will not blame you for whatever happens, I promise."

"Now I just have to stay alive." I sighed.

"I believe you will." Argo reassured me.

"That's what I'm worried about, you really shouldn't." I replied.

"I'm not going ta ask but you really should believe in yourself more, you've got enough skill, you should be just fine." She said

"Thanks Argo, well… I'll see you on floor two." She gave me a thumbs up. I waved her a goodbye as we parted ways.

All of the players taking part of the boss raid met up in the amphitheater and set off towards the boss room. There was an eerie silence, as everyone walked towards the boss room, sometimes someone would strike up a conversation to ease the mood but soon after the conversation would just fade away and silence will fall over the raiding party again, Kirito was getting nervous reviewing the plan with us over and over again but mainly I was listening, Asuna was… somewhere else in her mind.

This time though Kirito was able to gain her attention as he did a last minute review.

"Let's go over it again. We're the backup. So, our target's going to be the boss's minions - the Ruin Kobold Sentinels." He said

"I know." replied Asuna.

"We'll use a tactic called a switch, I'll use a sword skill to knock away their weapons out of the way, and you attack." Kirito summarized the plan.

"What's the switch?" Asuna asked.

"Okay, level with me. Is this the first time you've ever been in a party?" Kirito asked.

"U-huh." Asuna nodded her head in response.

Kirito just stopped in place stunned by what she said, and probably wondering why he ever let her into his party. His head was down and he was clearly depressed that he would have to explain to her how members of a party would work together. I walked up to Asuna and gave her the bare minimum of what I understood to lighten the load that Kirito had to carry.

Kirito was able to explain everything to Asuna before we arrived at the boss door. The boss door if I had to give my first impressions, it would be that it was large and had carvings of what looked like Kobold sentinels and other monsters that were on this floor. The only thing that caught my eye was the carving of a massive rat like creature on the door which, I assumed was the boss, I had asked Kirito beforehand of what the boss had looked like and picture had basically nailed the description that he gave me. A rat like creature with an axe and small buckler as his primary weapons and along with a talwar stored as a secondary weapon which would be used the moment the boss had reached a health percentage lower than twenty five percent. We reached the boss door and Diabel turned around to talk to everyone.

"Okay everyone, I've only got one thing to say to you all. Let's Win!" He said while pumping his fist. He turned around to push open the door.

Everyone in the raiding party charged into the boss room battle cries and all. The room was like a hallway and at the end of it was Illfang the Kobold Lord, sitting on a throne. Illfang noticed our presence, and jumped towards us to attack the raiding party. Diabel started to rder all the parties in the raiding group to do their assigned job.

"Commence attack!" he shouted while pointing his sword at Illfang. "Squads A and C, switch in! Here it comes! Squad B, block! Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch! Everyone else, when you fall back, regroup and flank them! Squads D, E and F, keep those minions off us!" He ordered us all.

"Roger that!" Kirito replied. "Switch!" He shouted while knocking the Kobold sentinel off balance.

"Got it!" Asuna shouted.

I spared a glance at Asuna as I saw her lightning fast movements and the speed and accuracy of her rapier pierce the armor of the sentinels with ease. Kirito called out to me as it was my turn to strike.

"Athlan! Switch!" Kirito shouted.

"Yeah I got him." I replied. I ran over to the stunned sentinel as I stabbed it through the slits in visor, using my momentum to slam the sentinel into the ground causing extra damage killing it. I got up and continued to follow Kirito's orders. "God I wish I had a bow right now, this would be much easier with one." I whined. I was pretty sure nobody heard that or whoever did hear me just ignored it.

The battle continued on with the same thing happening again and again the three of us calling out switch as the cue for us to intervene and finish our opponents. Eventually Illfang's health began to slowly dwindle until the health bar's color changed to red. Illfang roared making most of the players cover their ears, some were stunned and couldn't move. Illfang ditched its axe and buckler and took out the sword it had stored behind its back.

I looked over at Kirito and saw that he was staring straight at the sword. I checked the sword and I knew that it definitely had a Japanese sword type of look to it and I realized what Kirito just noticed. I ran over to Kirito and asked. "Kirito is the sword not the same from the beta test?"

"That's not a Talwar… That's a Nodachi it's different from the beta test." He murmured.

"Oh… Shit…" I muttered.

I suddenly heard Diabel shout something out to everyone.

"Stay back! I've got this!" He started to run towards Illfang, he started to activate a sword skill but just before he could unleash it Illfang dodged it and jumped up towards the pillars into the room and bounced from pillar to pillar. Diabel was stunned at what he was seeing. I was distracted as well by Illfang as he bounced around the boss room using the pillars to stay above the players.

I was suddenly pushed back by Kirito. I saw that Illfang had dropped down and attacked Diabel. Illfang hit Diabel's body so hard that it lift it off the ground. There was nothing I could do to stop what happened next. Illfang hit Diabel again and again depleting his health at an extreme rate. Illfang stopped attacking after the second strike with its sword. Diabel flew across the room and landed on his back. Kirito was the first to reach Diabel's body, I ran towards him and Diabel while I took out a health potion and threw it at Kirito, he caught it, but just before he gave Diabel the health potion I gave Kirito, Diabel stopped Kirito's hand and spoke his last words.

"Please... you have to... defeat the boss... for everyone here!" He said before he burst into polygons. The two of us were just standing there stunned by what just happened. Kirito was the first to move, he stood up silently, and I saw he was clearly affected by Diabel's death. Once Diabel was gone Kirito stood up. I was standing next to him and I understood what he was going to do next.

Asuna slid in and said. "I'll go with you."

"I'm going with you as well." I added.

"Okay then, we'll use the same pattern we used against the minions c'mon let's go!" Kirito ordered.

The three of us ran towards Illfang to finish this floor once and for all. Kirito knocked away the weapon as he shouted. "Asuna! Switch!" Asuna with her lighting fast movements was able to charge Illfang but suddenly something in Illfang's eyes had changed and both Kirito and I tried to warn Asuna by shouting her name. Asuna was able to hear us and tried to dodge, it looked like the sword was about to hit her but all it did was hit her cloak and tear it into pieces. Revealing a girl with flowing auburn hair.

I ran up towards Illfang, my dagger was glowing with a red energy and I slashed at its leg which made the monster fall on one knee. Before Illfang could recover I plunged my dagger into Illfang's back which caused it to grunt in pain. I had enough for my turn. I backed off of Illfang while calling out to Kirito. "Kirito, your turn! Switch!" I backed off pretty far away to gain a running start for when it was my turn.

Illfang tried to attack Kirito and Asuna but with each attempt that Illfang would make Kirito would come in and block the attack. One of Illfang's attack was a feint, Illfang was able to recover from his attack very quickly that the sword's real attack came in from a different direction and hit Kirito in the body knocking him off of the ground and sending him straight into Asuna, who was standing at the side waiting for Kirito to call out to her.

With the force of Illfang's attack it knocked both Kirito and Asuna off the ground, they were both on the floor trying to recover from Illfang's last move. Illfang was looming above them looking down on them before starting to activate a sword skill to finish them both off. I started to run towards them as fast as I could to try to save them but I knew that I wouldn't make it in time.

Illfang unleashed the sword skill but before it could strike Agil had intervened and used his axe to block the attack.

"We can hold this bastard off until your health's back up!" He said. Agil's party members charged in to attack and distract Illfang from his original targets.

"Got it!" replied Kirito

I was able to reach the both of them and give Asuna a spare potion just in case, while Kirito was drinking the potion I gave him just before Diabel died. I was glad the both of them were alive, I joined Agil to continue to attack Illfang. Agil swung his axe it Illfang's knees to try to cripple the beast, he achieved his goal, back off and called out for a switch. I ran in going for the other knee to remove any kind of mobility Illfang had. I stabbed my dagger deep into Illfang's knee, I dragged my dagger across from one side to the other causing a big red gash to appear at the knee. Illfang fell on both knees and was now kneeling I went in front of it to try to strike at its head since it was really small and tilted at the front of the body. I jumped up and slashed its neck.

Before I could touch the ground I felt something within me and looked around, I saw that Illfang was able to recover before I reached the ground. It started to swing its sword my way. I couldn't move or do anything as I was sent flying a few feet before roll8ng to a stop. I saw that both Kirito and Asuna had recovered and ran towards Illfang in a dead sprint. I couldn't hear them call out to each other but I knew just by watching them that they work extremely well together. Illfang didn't have much health left so this joint attack will decide if there were going to be more that would die. .I couldn't move or do anything to stop it I was mid-air, so I braced myself for impact. Illfang's sword hit me straight in the stomach, I was sent flying into the room's walls. My health dropped into the yellow zone from that one attack, so I let the now recovered Asuna and Kirito Handle things from there. I sat down and watched as Kirito and Asuna were going in one last time for the boss. Agil and his party were knocked out of the fight at some point, I think it was after I was sent flying into a wall.

"Come on, Asuna! Help me beat this sucker! One last attack!" Kirito shouted.

"Roger that." Asuna responded.

They both ran towards Illfang together side by side, Asuna was the first to attack with her rapier, it struck center mass. Asuna switched out with Kirito, he slashed Illfang from the top right all the way to the bottom left of its body, then before Illfang could recover Kirito activated a sword skill and slashed deep into Illfang the opposite direction, basically splitting Illfang into two pieces. Illfang's health reached zero as its body shivered and shattered into millions of little polygons. Silence reigned over everyone, before a banner over our heads appeared stating 'congratulations'. Everyone who had participated and survived had lived started to celebrate as cheers started to go around. I walked over to the duo and congratulated them for their success.

"Hey you two, good job out there." I offered a high five and Kirito responded by slapping my hand with his, and well… Asuna was… Asuna, silent as ever. Agil walked up to the three of us and congratulated us as well.

"That was some fine swordsmanship. Congratulations - today's victory is all thanks to you." He said.

"No." Kirito said, he was being humble at least.

Everyone's attention turned to Kirito and everyone started to compliment the guy and all the nice things people say to others. Although there was one person within the crowd who I did see, who wasn't celebrating, it was Kibaou. He was obviously furious with the expression clearly written on his face, as he shouted out to everyone.

"Stop cheering! Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diabel die?!"

"Let him die?" Kirito questioned.

"That's what I said. Admit it! You knew the technique the boss was gonna use. You could've told us! Then Diabel would've stood a chance... He wouldn't have to die!" Kibaou shouted. At this point I knew what he was trying to do, he was trying to blame the death of Diabel on Kirito obviously, but he wanted to paint Kirito in the worst way possible and present Kirito as if he were the scum of the earth.

"I know why he knew! He used to be a beta-tester! Think about it! He knew the boss's attack patterns! He knew, but he kept it from us!  
And I bet he's not the only beta-tester here! Come on, show yourselves!" Someone from the crowd exclaimed. You know if I weren't such a nice guy to other I would have throttled him by now, come to think of it. I'll make a mental note for later.

People like Agil tried to defuse the situation. I couldn't do anything anymore, if you roll a boulder down a hill towards a school, there's no stopping it, there's only just a means of slowing it down and delaying the inevitable. I noticed Kirito was thinking about something, I walked towards him and gave him my support.

"Hey, I'm here to support you all the way if you need me to."

"Thanks Athlan, but after what I'm going to pull right now might cause us to not be able to see each other for a while." I was saddened by what he said but I fully accepted it, whatever he was going to do he had my full support. I walked away from him and he spared a glance at me, I nodded at him as he looked back.

He started to laugh as if he found everything they were saying funny. The kind of laugh that would make anyone's skin crawl, Kirito slowly stood up and had this look in his eye as if anyone would talk back to him he would kill them with just a glance." So, you guys think I used to be a beta-tester. It's not cool to put me in the same class with those noobs." He said.

I realized what he was trying to do. Kirito was going to shift the attention of the players' hatred all to himself and let the beta testers gain some breathing space. He was going to unify the players in his own twisted way. It was a way of creating a common enemy that others had to fight other than the bosses themselves.

"What'd you say?" Kibaou asked.

"You heard me. Most of the thousand people who scored a slot in SAO's beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys are better than they were. But me, I'm nothing like those guys, man. During the beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers. That's a fact. I knew about the boss, 'cause I fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills on higher floors! I know a bunch of other things, too. More than you can imagine. More than any info broker." Kirito boasted.

Considering that Kirito had moved around during that speech of his he was basically standing in front of the whole raid party. He was the center of attention all eyes were on him. I didn't know what to do other than watch. I looked at Kibaou and saw that he was furious about what Kirito had just said.

"W-What the hell? If that's true, then you're worse than a beta-tester! You're a goddamn cheater, that's what you are!" He shouted. I honestly thought that his line of thought was stupid. You can't be called a cheater when you obviously acquired early access to content released by the developers. Some random guy in the crowd started to shout out in agreement. Then that guy just said the word that Kirito would be associated with for the rest of his time in SAO.

"Yeah! He's a cheater and a beta tester! He's a Beater!" A guy said. Kirito picked up on what he said and accepted the title forced upon himself.

"A beater... Yeah, that's good. I like it. Okay, you can call me a beater." He said while scrolling through his menu. I think he received clothing as his bonus I wonder what it could be. "Just make sure you don't confuse me with those beta-testers anymore." He said while a long black coat appeared and rested on his shoulders. He started to walk towards the spiral stairway at the end of the corridor and started to walk up it. I walked towards the stairway as well knowing well that this was going to be my last chance at talking to him for a while. Asuna ran ahead of me and started to ask some questions.

"Ki-ri-to… and…. Ath-lan" I heard her say. "So your name is Kirito and Athlan belongs to your friend?

"Yeah." Replied Kirito.

Asuna started to giggle a little bit. "I'm so dumb. It was there the whole time and I never knew." She said.

"You can become powerful here on your own. But if the day comes when someone you trust invites you to join a guild, don't turn it down, 'cause there're limits to what a solo player can do. Take this advice, you too Athlan." Kirito said. Asuna briefly looked at me she seemed surprised I was there.

"But you're solo…" I heard Asuna murmur.

I saw that Kirito had already dissolved the party and reached the door. I heard the door creak open. I ran up to catch up to Kirito just to give him a last minute farewell, he turned around and saw me I saw that he frowned for a bit before smiling again.

"I hope you don't intend to come with me Ahlan." He said.

"Don't worry about it Kirito I wouldn't do that I know you have to isolate yourself." I reached out my right hand as a sign for a handshake. Kirito responded and shook my hand in return. 'Goodbye Kirito, I wish you the best of luck." I said. He responded with the same words and started to walk off while waving back. I saw as his figure slowly disappeared into the shadows.

_ **That's a wrap for the second chapter I got really held up by school so my upload times may vary honestly but if you all continue to read this thanks a lot.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello and Welcome back this is the third chapter thanks for sticking around.**

* * *

 **December 4** **th** **2022**

After I saw Kirito leave and disappear I suddenly felt empty, I didn't like my friends leaving me. I always want to keep them all but sometimes I just had to let go. I didn't really mind but then that feeling disappeared soon after. I was once again on my own, I looked around me and saw that Asuna was behind me. I wanted to say goodbye to her before I left. I strolled up to her and greeted her normally.

"Hey, Asuna. I am going to head out soon and I wanted to say goodbye to you before I left."

"Oh okay then, goodbye Athlan I'll see you next time I guess. Stay alive." She replied.

"Yeah thanks Asuna, oh and before I go I don't believe I have sent you one of these before." I opened my menu and sent her a friend request "There, just in case I need you in the future." I said.

She readily accepted my request and I saw her name pop up in my friends list. I think I only had at least 4 friends at the time. Which included: Klein, Kirito, Argo and lastly Asuna. She was my latest addition to that list so I would be able to keep track of who was still alive and who was not, but hopefully things wouldn't come to that.

"Hey, umm… how does the friends list work? I mean you are basically my first friend here." She asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, this is your first MMO. Erm… okay so just tap on my name right?" She scrolled through her menu and it presented my name. "Then, you have options you can check my location, track me, and lastly message me." She chose one of the options and suddenly a notification popped up in front of me and said I received a message. It was Asuna's, with a cute symbol she sent to me.

"Okay, I think I got the hang of it. Thanks Athlan, I'll see you next time. Don't get yourself killed." She said.

"Likewise" I replied.

I walked away from her and slowly disappeared into the shadows. Before I reached the first town on the second floor I received a message from Argo saying: "Hey Athlan I hope you're there already I'm bringing some company and not the pleasant kind." I sighed after reading it. I picked up my pace and started to sprint towards the next town. I saw a sign down and written on it was 'Urbus'. I guessed that it was the name of the main town on the second floor.

Eventually after an exhausting run I managed to reach the town within 5 minutes, and as if on time I saw a small figure in a brown cloak exit the teleporter and run in a random direction. "Oh, Argo what did you do now?" I asked myself, and as if the gods heard my question. Two figures dressed as or at least looked like ninjas exited the teleporter soon after, and went in the same direction as Argo. "Well that answers my question." I ran after the two ninjas following them in their path. I managed to catch up. It seems I was faster than them, I thought of a good way of dealing with them and I looked over their shoulders to see that Argo was running out of space between the ninjas and her. Urbus was full of alleyways so I used that to my advantage. I knew that you couldnt harm players in safe zones but not a lot of people are accustomed to the pain of, for example: hitting a wall at top speed or their face being slammed into the ground. I said you can't be killed in a safe zone, but I never said it wouldn't hurt. I ducked into and alleyway and ran parallel to the ninjas as we continued running. "I have to time this perfectly or I'm getting myself a broken bone." I thought. I looked ahead of me as I saw the next alleyway connecting me and the ninjas together.

I took my chance and ran ahead and went into an alleyway and reached the other side to collide into one of the ninjas. The ninja crashed into a wall and was reeling himself in from the 'pain' he received. I immediately sped up in order to catch up to the other ninja. Once I reached him I grabbed him by the head and slammed his head into the ground, stopping the chase. I needed to get out of there in order to avoid being seen. I tracked Argo out of the village, I saw her looking everywhere for any sign of the ninjas that I stopped.

I approached Argo and saw that she relaxed as she saw me. I greeted her as I approached.

"Hey Argo, didn't you say you were bringing the unpleasant type of company? I really thought they would've been much stronger."

"Wait, what? I was being chased in the town, I thought I lost them, but that was you Ann-chan?" she asked. I really, _really_ hate that nickname.

"Well yeah, I took care of them by…. Well…. Smashing one guy's head into a wall at a high speed and then slamming the other one's face into the ground." I said with an annoyed tone.

"Hmph, okay then well I might as well own up to that deal we made. You still remember what you said right?" She asked.

"Yes of course I won't blame you for whatever happens and stop using that nickname, now that it really sounds like I'm a girl." I answered.

"Aww~ but Ann-chan it sounds soo nice as a nickname." She teased.

I sighed inwardly and said. "Just… lead the way…" I waved her on.

She led me to a forest in the middle of nowhere I got worried if she was lost, but I trusted Argo and her ability as an info broker. While walking there I decided to ask her a question to just get rid of the awkward silence that we shared on the way to the skill.

"Hey umm… Argo? I was wondering where you got those whiskers in the first place. It's a weird thing to put on your face. I-I'm not saying you don't look good, I mean you're pretty cute with those on b-but… actually never mind…" I just gave up, I had a feeling that by saying that, it wouldn't get me anywhere.

I looked at Argo, and I swear I saw a fierce blush on her face as she tried to hide it by pulling her hood down to cover her face. A silence ensued for the rest of the trip I didn't have the guts to try to ask her for something. Eventually we reached an area and Argo turned around.

"Okay we are here. You just need to go down that hole." She pointed to a hole which had a pitch black interior, I couldn't see a thing.

"Yeah I'll jump down into the rabbit hole, but are you coming with?" I asked. Argo just nodded in response.

I just jumped into the hole without Argo I thought it might have been a bad idea but as I landed I felt water and slid down towards a bright light. I arrived and Argo soon after but since she was way shorter than me she practically flew out of the hole I came from. I caught her in my hands and let her down she mouthed me a 'thank you' before continuing on. We eventually reached a plateau where there were a lot of small huts. An old man walked out of one and above him was a quest marker.

"Okay! We're here all you have to do is accept the quest from that old geezer." Argo said while pointing towards the old man.

"Hmm, okay then I'll talk to you after I accept it." I said. Argo nodded at me and stood in the same place until I would came back.

I walked away from her and approached the old hermit. He definitely looked like some sort of monk with the robes he was wearing. I tried to think of a phrase that would trigger the quest. Then I just went for the obvious and blunt question in my head.

"Hello sir, I have come to learn the martial arts skill that I have heard about from you." I asked. The question seemed to trigger the quest as the exclamation point became a question mark and the old man responded to me.

"Young man are you sure you are willing to become one of my disciples?" He asked.

"Yes, I am willing to become a disciple of yours'" I replied.

"Very well then, although you may not have the strength of a bull you are as wise and keen as an owl. I am sure you will be able to complete the task." He said. The prompt to accept the quest appeared and I pressed the accept button. I didn't really pay attention but at some point the old man had painted whiskers on my face _and_ took my weapons from me. He just looked at me and continued to say.

"Your task is to destroy that boulder over there…" he said while pointing behind me. "…and you must do it without your weapons. Good luck my disciple." He said while disappearing into his hut. I took out my hand mirror which I had kept all this time and looked at my face. "Ahh, so is where those whiskers come from…" I thought.

I walked towards the boulder that the old man pointed at, and if this were real life there would be no way I could destroy that thing it was way too big. I just examined the boulder and something clicked in my mind. I would act on it later but first I needed to report back to Argo.

I walked back over to her just to see what she would say to me before I would act on that idea I had a while ago. When I reached Argo it looked like she was preparing for something. I was pretty sure she just thought that the moment I came back I would shout at her because of what that old hermit did, but I didn't really mind. When I reached her it took a while before Argo would speak.

"S-so you are not mad? "She asked hesitantly.

"Actually, I'm not mad I've already thought of a way to destroy that thing" I said while pointing at the boulder.

"Eh? That quickly?" She asked curiously.

"That old man already gave me a hint, he said that I need the strength of a bull but obviously I don't have a strength stat that high. I know that Kirito would just brute force his way through, but I have noticed a significant increase of bull spawns in the area. Maybe, if I could lure one here and ask it to use its charge attack to ram into the boulder and destroy it for me." I said.

"Good idea, but how exactly are you supposed to lure one here? Keeping agro of one of those things will be hard." Argo said.

"Well yeah, that's the problem, I do a have a good idea but I'm not sure it will work." I said while producing a red shirt in my hands. "This is one of my casual shirts, so I'm hoping I can do this without getting this destroyed." I continued.

Argo seemed to get what I was going to do and gave a grin. "Well good luck with that, I remember that a monster spawn was not that far off, I think there was one that way." She said while pointing towards a forest nearby.

"Hmm… Okay then, well I'll be off. You can leave now if you want to I don't think I will need you now I think I can do this by myself." I said.

"Are you sure about that Ann-chan? Actually yeah, from this point on I do not need to be with you. I'll just give you the map to get out of here." She walked over to me and gave me a prompt to receive map info, I accepted it and checked it out to see some lines here and there pointing out which way I was supposed to go.

"Thanks Argo, well I'll see you later." I said while going in the direction where Argo was pointing.

"Alright Ann-chan I'll see ya next time. Be sure to contact me when yer done." She responded.

I still hate that gods damned nickname I swear…

Once I reached the nearest bull spawn, I waited to see if one of the bulls would separate from the main group. I only needed one of them not all that would be a problem to deal with later plus something that is more likely to get me killed, and I really don't want to get killed, that would be bad for my health.

I waited around for one of the bulls to separate from the main herd or group. Sometimes a bull would look like it would leave then suddenly turn back around and join the herd again. I was really annoyed by this mechanic but all I could really do was curse Kayaba for it. "Rrgh, now I really wish I had a damned bow shooting one would just attract the agro of the one I would shoot making this ten times fucking easier." I complained. I readied a throwing knife to grab the attention of one of the bull s the moment they leave the herd.

Eventually one of the bulls walked away from the herd far enough that if I threw my knife the other bulls would consider me a threat. I threw my knife so that it would hit the body of the bull. I was being very careful not to cause severe damage, to make sure that my now very angry bull would be at full capacity. The bull looked at me in the tree line and focused on my shirt. I saw something in its eyes change that I knew as long as I didn't get too far, it would continue to chase me to hell and back.

I sprinted in the direction of the plateau where my boulder was waiting with the bull close behind. I couldn't trip, or stumble one mistake would lead to me getting trampled or worse, dead. I kept running and jumped over any roots and ducked under and low hanging branches in my way. I looked back from time to time to see that the bull was still behind me. I eventually reached a clearing where my boulder was located and gained some distance from the bull before turning around and putting my red shirt in front of the boulder making sure that the bull saw it.

The bull ran headlong into the boulder no questions asked and rammed into it with incredible strength. I saw that the boulder started to crumble and looked at its health bar. I repeated this two more times, but before I could make the bull run into the boulder one last time the bull side swiped me and I was knocked of my feet. I saw that the bull was backing up and getting ready to make another charge. I struggled to get back on my feet but I managed to stand up again. I was nearly trampled by the darn thing that my shirt was caught in its horns I was being dragged along the ground as the bull tried to get my shirt loose from its horn.

I had a great but really stupid plan, I climbed atop the bull and started to ride it. It tried to shake me off but I held a tight grip on its horns. I was able to cover the face of the bull with the rest of my shirt. The bull kept running so I turned its head in the direction of my boulder and just before it rammed into the boulder I let go of my shirt and jumped off the bull. The bull hit the rock destroying both the boulder and my shirt in the process. The bull had sustained enough 'environmental' damage that it would be easy to kill. I ran towards it and sliced at its neck, basically semi-decapitating the poor thing.

The bull shattered into a million pieces along with both the boulder and my shirt. The polygons slowly drifted up into the air before disappearing without a trace. I looked around and saw that at some point the old man had come out of his hut and started to observe me. The old man had a smile on his face, he was clearly proud. I walked towards him to receive the awards from my quest.

"Well done my disciple, I didn't expect you to be done so early, but all that shows is your skill. Anyway, you have completed your task and have obtained the Martial Arts Skill congratulations." I received a window saying I completed the quest and received the skill. I accepted it and gave a goodbye to the old man. I followed the directions on the map that Argo gave me. I left the plateau and headed back to Urbus. I was slightly in a bad mood due to my shirt being destroyed by that bull, so I was in an irritable mood.

While venturing down the path that the map pointed out, I heard the sounds of metal clashing on flesh. I was intrigued and decided to approach and see what was going on. While approaching I remembered something funny, it was about how we humans and other species similar to us are more likely to approach the danger rather than get as far away as possible. "How did we ever become the dominant species on this planet? " I thought with a small chuckle.

When I arrived I saw five players trying to fight off multiple cows and mixed in there were some bulls as well. If I had to describe what they looked like, the first player held a weapon which looked like a sword but functioned like a rapier and had a cloak covering himself, the second player held a short dagger fellow dagger user huh?, the third player had a shield only obviously their tank of the group but had no cloak showing off his brown hair, the fourth had a short curved blade in his hands, a fellow dagger user as well, and lastly the fifth player held a stiletto. If I had to describe their current state, I'd say they were in bad shape and would die if no one interfered or helped out, so I took up the challenge to help and ran towards the herd of cattle and bulls to help them all out.

The moment I got to the cows and bulls I started to slash and hack at all the cows in front of me effectively killing multiple enemies in a few hits. I was able to use my throwing knives and throw with my left hand and my dagger in a comfortable reverse grip in my right hand. I would throw my knives at the cows that would attack any of the players basically canceling any attack. The five players were able to recover with my help and started to fight back all the cows and bulls that currently surrounded them.

Eventually all of the cows and bulls were slaughtered and killed with ease. My health was in the green but the others were mostly in the yellow, some of them such as the player with the rapier-like sword and the player with the short dagger were still in the green but barely over the half health line.

After the fight was finished I sheathed my dagger on the sheath just above my waist line behind my back. I was able to top of my health with a healing potion and my health was back to full. I didn't really want to stay for long so I decided to get out of there immediately, but before I could leave I was approached by the group.

"Hey, thanks for saving us." One of the group said. I think it was the guy with the sword looking rapier and hood.

"No problem, but I have to get going." I said.

"Oh um really? Well would you mind if we came with you? I-I mean we don't really have anywhere to go and we're also indebted to you for saving us." He said.

"Huh? You don't have to all feel indebted, all you need to do is stay alive and that's good enough as a way to pay me back." I replied.

"Oh… Well do you mind if we followed you?" He asked.

"Hmm… I don't see any problem with that just know that you chose this yourself, so if you die it's not my responsibility." I replied.

"That's great! Thank you sir!" He exclaimed with joy, I was surprised more surprised by what he called me, sir? It feels nice being called that, almost like you have the highest authority. "Oh and uhh our names, well I am Red-eyed Xaxa, Xaxa in short." He started to point out everyone. Johnny Black was the other player with the hood along with his very own dagger that he seemed to be poisoning…? The player with only a shield was Aaron, The player with a karambit looking weapon was Neon, and lastly the player with a stiletto was Loki. Lots of dagger users so not bad, I could always use valuable resources such as scouts and a tank as well, must be a lucky day for me.

"Well since you all intend to follow me I want to put all your abilities to the test. At least to the extent you will not die." I said to the group.

At that very moment it seemed fate heard me and decided to give me a challenge that presented itself as a piercing scream, to give to these youngsters. I obliged and called out to the group. They already knew that even without my call that they would go help, but I guess I got them out of their shocked state after hearing the scream faster. I ran ahead and heard multiple footsteps behind me soon after setting off towards the direction from where the scream came from.

When we reached the area where the scream came from we all saw a girl surrounded by three players. "Fucking bandits… this early within this game? Why?" I thought. Bandits this early in the game doesn't mean anything good for the populace. Especially since they are already robbing players like this outside of safe areas. I guess even if we did cleared the first floor people are still going to be greedy little bellends. I reached the end of the forest line and stopped at the edge to prevent myself from being seen, I raised a fist into the air as the rest of my group reached me.

"Stop, look ahead, you see them?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're robbing that girl three of them surrounding her in a triangle formation." Neon said.

"Good eye sight you got there eh? Anyway I need to split us up into three groups of two people…" I said while examining my party.

"…Okay I got it, Xaxa and Johnny you two together erm… Loki and Aaron you two are next up, and lastly me and Neon." I said to them all. "What we'll do is spread out one group takes one player, on my first move the rest of you will attack. Johnny you got some paralytic spiked throwing knives?" I asked.

"Yes, sir I got three only so one to each group?" He asked.

"Yes please, now everyone make this throw count, remember if you're not confident with this throw you can just stab with the throwing knife instead. Now XaXa and Johnny take out the player with the long sword. Aaron and Loki get the one with a lot of armor. Neon and I got the guy with the dagger, everyone good? Okay let's move out." I announced in a hushed tone.

Everyone took at least a minute to reach their desired positions I took post in a tree while Neon was below me waiting for me to hit my mark. Once everyone was finished either readying to throw or preparing to stab, I released my knife and it soared in the air with lightning fast speed as it hit the back of the bandit. The bandit immediately collapsed on the ground, I saw Aaron charge full speed into the bandit with armor knocking the bandit off his feet and onto the ground as Loki got on top of the bandit and sliding the throwing knife into the bandit weak spots in the armor. XaXa and Johnny Black were able to take down theirs with a simple knife throw. I was surprised at how fast the attack was taking only about five to ten seconds. I was impressed.

"Hahaha, damn that was way too easy." I laughed. I think at that moment I may have looked a small bit like a psychopath.

"Thank you… I guess?" said the girl.

"No problem, now we better get out of here before the poison wears off. Let's move out. You can come with us if you want, but first…" I said. I walked towards the bandit with the long sword, obviously the leader with the way he was dressed. "Well, well, well, time to throw you three down one eh?" I said with a dangerous near psychopathic tone.

"P-please don't kill us, if you do you'll become an orange player you know!?" He begged. He was already orange so I wouldn't become an orange player even if I _did_ _kill him_ , but I didn't I just wanted them to remember something.

"If you don't want me to kill you then sure I won't, _for now_ … but if I ever see you in the future and you three still have orange cursors I'll assume that you've killed someone already, and I won't hesitate to kill you on sight. Now you better not follow us, but I'll give you a name to call our group by, including the girl… Red November, remember it will you? I might forget it myself heheh." I chuckled while walking away from the three paralyzed players.

I only gave a hand signal to the rest of my group to tell them to move out. They followed me out of the clearing with haste, they seemed like good people and their abilities to work together as well, I guess I'll be the solo player in the group then I'll replace Neon's partner with this girl if she decides to follow as well.

"Hey… uhm… I'm Kiana." I heard the girl introduce herself.

We all turned around to look at her, which did kind of made her become flustered judging by the blush on her face. I as the leader of our group decided to introduce each and every member to Kiana. I pointed out everyone as well as stating their names as well, but now there was something I had to ask her…

"So, now that introductions are over, are you going to follow me or will we go our separate ways once we reach the nearest town? " I asked.

"I've got nothing better to do and nowhere to go, so I'll follow you and your group." She replied.

"Hmph okay then, what's your load out then? " I asked.

"Oh, a rapier." She said.

"Okay then, you get partnered up with Neon over there. That just leaves me being the only solo player." I said.

With that concluded, we had our new member partnered up and ready to go. We were able to get back to Urbus, using the map Argo gave me back at the plateau.

"Okay everyone, rest up and get some food in yourselves you'll need it." I announce to the group. I heard sighs of relief, which was to be expected I mean, I think we just walked around 5 kilometers or something. "Everyone stay with their partners I don't want those bandits finding us here and catching one of us off guard. Same teams, except I will go alone, and Kiana go with Neon. I will secure our lodgings for the night as well, rooms for two for each of us, so you all don't have to worry about that, but don't get any ideas I'm not buying everything." I said to everyone with a joking tone at the end.

"Yes sir." Said everyone.

After that we all dispersed and spread out, the others stayed with their respective partners. I went to the main inn in town and got three rooms for two and one room just for me. I left the inn soon after since my business there was done for now. I walked around town and went to the general store and bought some new throwing picks and extra potions. I went to the blacksmith to upgrade my dagger, and to get it repaired. Once, I was done with the necessities I walked around the town more and got bored really quickly, I decided to head to the labyrinth after making one more cycle through town. While walking, I saw Neon and Kiana checking out a blacksmith's wares. I walked towards the pair and struck up conversation.

"Hello what's going on you two? Checking the shop out?" I asked them.

"Yeah, she's checking for any better rapiers, while I'm looking for any better karambit-style knives." Neon replied.

"Hmm…" I said while looking at the weapons available. "Okay, Neon can get that dagger, 'Tiger Tooth' it seems to have a high damage stat…" I pointed out a short curved blade with a serrated blade to cause extra damage to the body of whatever it was stabbed into. "…and Kiana can have this, since I didn't see anything better other than what I currently have. 'Stinger' is will provide poison damage with each hit and the possibility of a paralytic effect if you get a critical hit." The long rapier had a cross as a guard. While the blade was long and thin, with a sharp point, the blade itself had a green tint.

"Thanks a lot sir!" said Kiana.

"Thanks this'll help me out a lot." said Neon.

"It's fine this will help you two survive, and that's all you two need to do for me. Now I was getting bored around here want to go grinding for the rest of the afternoon you can test out those new weapons too." I asked.

"Yeah sure." Said Neon and Kiana.

"Great. Then let's get going." I said.

We went to the quest board available for any player to use. I found a suitable group quest 'Defeat the Judge Cow' kind of a funny name for a mini boss although I wonder why it's called that. We walked towards a quest marker on the map, and we fought multiple minor bulls or cows along the way. We were pretty quick with our progress, and all of us were able to gain a level. Eventually, we were able to reach the mini-boss in the middle of a forest. The Cow was pure white with glowing green eyes, the health bars appeared, two in total. I'm pretty sure the moment the first bar was gone the bull would change its patterns or until its health reaches the red zone.

"Well we're here, it's time to take this thing down!" I announced.

"Yeah!" They both shouted in unison.

I threw two of my throwing picks and they hit both of the eyes of the boss, blinding it for a while. I ordered both Kiana and Neon to take the sides of the mini boss, Kiana on its left and Neon on the opposite side. I ran towards the bull and struck at its head, then I backed off to let the others take their turn. Kiana started first, she pierced through the neck of the cow with her rapier using 'Linear'. Neon was up next he hit the bull with his left hand, he didn't cause much damage since he didn't have the martial arts skill, then he used his knife to claw at the body of the mini boss.

At this point the boss was able to regain its sight, I warned everyone to back off to see what it would do. The cow scratched its hoof on the ground indicating a charge was coming. I called out to everyone that the boss was going to charge, I didn't hear anything but I'm sure both of them heard me. The cow charged at Kiana at a high speed, Kiana saw it coming and barely dodged out of the way. The horns of the cow making small red scratches across her outfit. I ran after the cow which hit a tree to slow itself down but stunned itself in the process. I jumped onto the back of the cow and grabbed a hold on the horns on its head. I was going to pull on its head to direct its charge attack towards trees or nearby rocks, just like at the plateau.

"Attack after I force a stun on this thing!" I called out to the both of my party members.

"Roger!" They responded.

I pulled at the cow's horns each time it charged to make it charge straight into a rock or tree. I was successful and both Kiana and Neon were able to tag team the mini-boss with their teamwork. "I knew they would work well together…" I thought. The boss's health decreased rapidly and eventually its health reached the red line threshold. It was able to shake me off, I fell off of its back. I wasn't really that surprised since bosses in games usually changed their strategy at the end of the line anyways. The boss instead of blindly charging at us decided to just swing its head wildly in hopes of hitting us in its berserker state. None of us could get close without risking being possibly run over.

I decided to sacrifice some health to get some hits in or else we wouldn't be able to anywhere with just dodging and not giving back. I had to already accept I was dead or else fear of dying would hold me back, that was the only way for someone like me to accept this world. I charged forward deliberately putting myself in front of the cow, I was hit in the gut by one of its horns. Neon and Kiana looked at me in shock as if I'd just killed myself, but my health was actually just above the yellow point.

"What are you two staring at!? One last attack! Give it all you've got!" I shouted at them.

They both charged in Kiana striking first with a 'linear' skill. Piercing the body of the mini boss most likely spearing its heart and quickly spreading the poison around its body. Neon slid underneath the boss and spun slashing at all of its legs cutting off the hooves of the boss disabling it permanently. I was still stuck on its horns, using the martial arts skill to repeatedly punch at its head causing heavy amounts of damage. The combination of our attacks was enough to finish off the boss, it shivered and shattered into a thousand polygons.

I was released from the horns once it disappeared, I fell to my hands and knees trying to ignore the blunt pain that was absorbed by my armor. Both Neon and Kiana came to help me up to my feet and I gladly accepted their help. I received the congratulations screen and was given a lot of Exp and Credits receiving some minor awards such as materials for upgrading my equipment but nothing important. I checked in with the others to see what they got and the both of them basically got the same loot.

The three of us walked back to Urbus to get some rest since the moment we arrived the "sun" but really it was the light beneath the next floor, started to get darker and everything was tinted with an orange color painting the landscape. I turned around because I was leading our party of three, to speak to the two and dismiss them for the day.

"Alright we're back, now if you two need to restock your supplies go ahead, but if you're thinking on doing it tomorrow I suggest you two get some rest, You'll need it tomorrow we're heading back to where I found you, and I will give you all a fine skill that will help in your survival." I said.

"I don't think I need to restock any of my supplies since I didn't use much of them during the fight so I think I'm heading to bed, I'm beat." Replied Neon.

"Yeah, we'll head to the inn now, goodnight sir." Said Kiana before grabbing the wrist of Neon dragging him off to the inn.

"Goodnight you two. Just don't get rowdy when I'm not looking." I said while waving them a goodbye. Kids, they were both short so I thought that they were definitely younger than me. I guess they're loyal to me for saving their lives, but hopefully they don't just stay because they feel indebted, I gave them all a choice after all. Actually now that I think about it, I haven't seen the other two groups. I guess they just checked with the inn-keepers around town. I did forget to tell them where I was actually going to make our lodgings so I think making them look for where we were going to stay is enough payback for me paying for their rooms, considering that when you take a first glance at them you already know that they're using weak store-bought gear as their equipment and probably not even upgraded they probably wouldn't even have any money to afford the inn rooms here anyway.

I decided to head to a shop that sold nice clothing nearby. I checked out the stuff they sold there and bought a new shirt to replace the one I lost because of that bull, which made me happy that I was able to get a new one a bit on the violet red side of the color scale this time though. I checked for one more item and bought a cloak with a hood, it looked like Argo's trademark cloak that extended until my knees. I decided to have one last stroll around town before heading to bed.

My walk around town was uneventful, so I headed back to the room I bought in the main inn of town and climbed up the stairs to head back to my room, that's when I felt staring eyes on my back. I turned around and saw that the hallway was empty, the stairs as well. I brushed it off as a paranoia because I was worried that those bandits would come and find us. I entered my room and look around. It was very standard it had a bed sized for two people and next to it was a small table with a candle with a burning fire. A window at the other end which opened up into the street. I had no intention of opening it up and letting the cold air in. I felt strangely at home in this place, I had no idea why but I chalked it up to some sort of bonus that these safe zones provided us.

I unequipped my armor and manually took off my combat clothes and put on my new shirt and put on some pants for the night. I sat at the edge of the bad and blew out the candle. I relaxed on the bed and put my arm over my eyes to cover them, I felt my eyelids get heavy and closed them, I drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

…..

….

* * *

December 5th 2022

…

I woke up early in the morning, I sat up and put my hand on my head. It hurt soo much I felt absolutely sick, I stood up and immediately fell to my knees, I couldn't stand then suddenly I was paralyzed I couldn't move at all. I got worried something happened to me, but it was not me in the virtual world but the 'me' out in the real world.

…

The paralysis effect didn't wear off after about five minutes, I was glad I wasn't outside at the time or else I would be in a whole world of trouble. "Fuck what's happened to me this is definitely not a system glitch, no way, Kayaba perfected his craft." I thought. Something happened on the outside it was the only reason why this would happen, and I was correct some players were being transferred over from their homes to hospitals at the time and currently I was one of them. "I wonder how's my real body doing considering it has been a month since I was stuck here" I thought absent mindedly. After fifteen minutes which seemed more like an hour since I had been paralyzed, I regained control over my body again. I slowly stood up from the wooden floor and my body ached from being frozen still for sometime. I walked out of my room to go and check on the others, I knocked on the first room and opened since doors can be opened by party members and anyways I heard a muffled "come in" come from the inside. I opened the door to see both Neon and Kiana paralyzed on the floor.

I wanted to laugh but I held it in for some funny memories to tell later. I walked over to Neon to drag him to a wall to let him sit up, he gave me a word of thanks as I put him down. Next was Kiana… how should I go about this without making things awkward, well I do have a sister I guess this wouldn't be so different… I picked Kiana up bridal style and put her on the bed as fast as I could since she was paralyzed next to it. I hope she didn't think that I mean something with my actions I just wanted to help. She thanked me for the help and I swear she didn't blush, nope not at all. I walked out of the room and entered the others' room to find the same situation except with Loki since he explained that he was in a similar situation a few days ago so he knew what this was. I helped everyone get comfortable and left their rooms. I headed downstairs and got some breakfast after a weird morning. After about 10 minutes everybody was downstairs eating breakfast. Even if breakfast wasn't required in the virtual world we've become so accustomed to it that our heads would just tell us we're hungry and we'd usually obey it.

After a silent breakfast, I exited the inn to wait for everyone to gather outside. One by one they all exited the inn. I guess since they were obviously either confused or just shocked about what happened, I wanted to get their heads back into the game… heh.

"I know you are all either shocked or confused, and being honest here I have no idea what you are feeling after being paralyzed like that for some time. I just want to tell you that you should be more than glad that what transpired happened, because if you didn't forget we still have real bodies outside of this world. I'm telling you all right now that we've basically all got our timers extended by a few more years." I said in a clear voice.

"Our timers? What do you mean?" Asked Xaxa.

"We are all on a timer right now, and by that is the health of our bodies in the real world. Our bodies are currently being tended to in hospitals, the reason for our paralysis is the loss of connection to the SAO servers because our bodies had to be moved to hospitals so in a sense our timers have just been increased." I said while doing a quotation mark gesture when saying 'timers'.

"Ohh, I think I get it now." said Xaxa.

"What about the rest of you?" I asked.

"Yeah I got the gist of it. " said Kiana. Everybody else's reply were just more of the same.

"Okay, now that everyone is okay now, I'm going to bring you all to a special place in order to lessen the need for us to worry about our 'timers' in a good way of course. It will help us survive. C'mon now we have to get there by noon, I want to see who's the most capable on being my right hand man or woman… in this group." I said.

I brought them all the way back to the plateau to let them accept the martial arts skill. When we got there, not too much to my surprise I saw Kirito, and… Asuna? Kirito with as much determination on his face was repeatedly punching a boulder and Asuna was also doing the same thing but… with a determination that seemed way over the top, I mean she's kicking that thing at a really high speed, must hurt.

To think that she'd be here I wasn't really surprised that Kirito found this place, probably asked Argo, but how he convinced her to get him here since this place was the origins of her whiskers so it would be a sensitive or just silly thing to hide from others. Those ninjas probably just chased her again to ask where this place was again. Well, anyway time to say hello.

I walked towards Asuna who was exhausted after trying to break the boulder using physical force but it was definitely not working. She saw me approaching and rubbed her eyes as if I was some sort of illusion to her. "Hey, Asuna what are you two doing here? " I asked.

"Oh so you are here Athlan and with a group I see, I thought I was just seeing things. " She replied.

"Ouch, so you just thought I was just an illusion? " I asked with a hurt but joking tone.

"Yep! But now that I'm talking to you I'm pretty sure you aren't one. Unless I'm dreaming then that's a different thing." She said.

I laughed at our exchange it was nice having a normal conversation within this game. It was something that I would severely need in the future. "Anyways this is my group, I saved them from a while back since they were all in trouble." I said. I started to introduce everyone in the group saying their names and load outs.

"Well, nice to meet you all." She greeted while bending over in a cute way earning a few blushes from a few of our male friends… heh.

"Well now that the pleasantries are over we have to do what we came here to do. Everyone go and talk to that old man back there." I said while pointing at the old man sitting on the balcony of his hut. I approached the old man once more and he seemed happy to see me again.

"Ahh my disciple you are back, glad to see you but what do you intend on doing here? " he asked.

"Well Sensei, I brought some friends who could use the teachings that you taught me… or well the skills that I earned myself." I answered.

"Ahh well I do hope they will accept the challenge and please don't tell them how you solved the problem will you? " he said.

"Of course sensei, I brought them here for both their own benefit and mine. I will see to it that they get the task done."

"Good. Now, your friends are as fast as the winds in the north but not as wise and keen as you except for one of them, he has the fortitude of a castle which will last for a thousand years. Yes…" He said while pointing at each one of them and specifically at Aaron for his last statement. "They have a good leader and a wise one at that I hope they do as well as you did my disciple." He said

"Of course they will." I said with a smirk on my face.

I walked away from the old man and asked everybody if they accepted the quest which I think was given to them.

"So, have you all accepted the quest? " I asked them all.

"Yes sir!" they all shouted.

"Alright, now that everyone's ready let's get to work!" I announced while punching my fist into my palm.

* * *

 **Okay, I think that will do for this chapter to be honest I was looking for a part to end this chapter because if I don't stop now. The way I'm having this part of the story develop it will be a long while before the next rest point when I can validly stop the chapter, unless I end it in some sort of cliffhanger but I find that ending this chapter at this time is better.**

 **Also, I'm not exactly sure but I feel that the quality of this chapter dropped? I'm not sure, but want to hear it from you people.**

 **Hmm not sure what else to say…**

 **Oh! The new and old characters yeah so I'm sure you already know who Xaxa and Johnny are, and if you are wondering what I'll be doing with them I'm still thinking about it, but the rest are not influenced by anything they're just people who I know in real life who I think will do good. Although their names are different for sure.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome back! Time to get started!**

* * *

 **December 5** **th,** **2022 11:00 PM**

It was late at night, I couldn't sleep. I sat up from my makeshift bed on the floor, I made from materials the old man gave me since I was one of his 'accomplished' students. I got out of the hut and looked around. Everyone was sleeping. I felt at peace being alone again, weirdly enough. The night was quiet.

"If there was one thing I would like to have, it would be a notebook or at least something I can use to record my time here. I don't expect to leave this game alive." I thought. Even if what I thought was cruel, I really didn't expect to make it out of SAO.

I started to head down the same path which I took to get out of here yesterday. I was going to go back to Urbus to get some extra supplies and that notebook. I started to run down that same path and all the way back to Urbus. Once I arrived I was able to locate a general store which was thankfully open. Inside I was able to buy some potions, throwing picks, and a small red and black colored handbook and a pen, small enough to fit in my pocket or pouch. I was also able to procure some record crystals, which were made to take pictures or make voice or video recordings. You can also program the crystal to bind to an item and send the crystal at a designated time.

I left the store and started to walk all the way back. When I left town I felt the strange feeling as if I was being watched once again like at the inn. I stopped and looked around, I saw nothing the plains were empty and the cities were even less so. I walked back into the forest and backtracked my way to the plateau again.

There was nothing out of the ordinary except for a few monsters roaming around but I was able to avoid all of them with ease. I was walking in the middle of the forest and there were absolutely no monsters around for some reason, so I took out my small handbook and started to make small notes about everyone I've met so far which included my friends who are in my group and people like Kirito, Argo, Asuna, and Klein. I made notes on events that transpired and what I contributed. This would become a daily routine for me every night before I would go to sleep I would take out that notebook and record in somewhat very precise detail events and things that would happen on that day. Sometimes in the future, even writing events that were painful to recall.

After I wrote down those I put the handbook back into my pocket. The way back was quiet and lonely, yet peaceful. I arrived at the edge of the plateau. I saw Neon outside lying down on the balcony of his hut. I wanted to talk to someone before heading to bed.

"Hey Neon what's going on? Can't sleep?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can't sleep for some reason. I think it's because of everything on my mind." He said. Everything on his mind?

"Oh? Then what is on your mind then?"

"My 'partner' I guess" he replied.

"Why is there something wrong with Kiana?" I questioned.

"No, nothing's wrong with her it's just that…"

"Hmm? Oh wait a minute, pfft you wouldn't by any chance 'like' her huh?" I smirked at my guess and was holding back a laugh. "You wouldn't, not this early," I said in disbelief.

"Argh, yes! This early! It doesn't really bother me and anyway it's just a crush nothing serious!" said Neon with a clear voice but with a hushed tone.

"Okay, okay pipe down she might hear you," I said in a hurry. I thought I heard a movement of fabric from inside his hut. "Hey um…"

"What?"

"I was just thinking, your name is weird, Neon where did you get it?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing special since I couldn't get creative with making my own name." He replied.

"Ah, I see. Well, do you mind if I called you Neo instead? It means new in Greek." I requested.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind, but keep in mind that Neo is my real name." He said.

It took some time to let the info sink in. "What!? I don't know if I want to laugh at how uncreative you are, or thank you for trusting me with that info."

"Well, what can I say? I was always an outgoing guy in real life, and anyway I was as uncreative too. " He said in a totally nonchalant tone as if he didn't care that he shared such sensitive information.

"Well, I don't want to reveal my name just yet, I don't feel up to it. I might in the future though."

"Understandable, it's fine." Said Neo. I'm calling him that from now on.

"Thanks, I guess." I thanked him.

"Well, I'm heading to bed." He said.

"Yeah, likewise. Goodnight Neo, and say it for me to Kiana." I said in reply. He gave a grunt of approval and we both went into our separate huts.

I went inside and got on the makeshift bed I made out of the straw and cloth within the hut. I felt uncomfortable. I tried to sleep and since I had to run from here to the town and back I was able to fall asleep because of how exhausted I was. I felt my eyelids get heavy and drifted off…

…..

…

* * *

 **December 6** **th,** **2022 Early Morning**

…

…

I was barely awake when I felt a small finger poking at my face, I tried to go back to sleep thinking it was just a piece of cloth from my bed but the poking wouldn't stop and started to get stronger each time. I quickly grabbed the hand that kept prodding my face and opened my parted my lips to place it inside, which was what I did to my sister if she kept bothering me while I was asleep. It took me at least two seconds for me to place the slender finger in my mouth and I gave it a little taste since, well… it was one of those weird things I did since to me everyone had a… _unique taste_. I heard a squeal of surprise when I gave it a lick. I opened my eyes and to my surprise it was Argo.

"Shweet thaste, just like shis." I said while the finger in my mouth.

"Eek! Ann-chan what are you doing!?" she squealed.

"You woke me up, just like sis." I said while taking her finger out.

She pulled it out and wiped it on her cloak, clearly disgusted and flustered. "Remind me to never wake you up, ever. Yuck!"

"Yeah sure, please don't wake me up ever again." I said sarcastically.

"Yeah, thanks smartass." She retorted.

"You're welcome, no problem, at all." I said with a smirk. "Anyway, is there a reason why you're here?" I asked.

Still wiping the same finger on her cloak she said. "Yes there is, unfortunately. I wanted to make sure that I got as much information for this floor and it's boss to ensure the safety of the raiding party. I don't want another person dying because of the lack of information."

"Okay, I'm in, what do you need me to do?" I said.

"Thanks, I didn't want to get the others in on this."

"Huh? Kirito doesn't know?" I asked

"Uhuh, you already know of his white knight personality, he'll do anything if it means he gets ta help people." Replied Argo.

"Oh yeah, I guess that's true. Well then, I just have to inform my group that we're going on an 'errand', then we can go and get to work." I said.

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you at the outskirts of the plateau then we can get to the finer details of this job." She replied.

"Job? I thought we were helping people out not robbing them." I said sarcastically.

"You know what I meant." She retorted.

"Yes, yes, now go I'll find you when I get out of here." I waved her away.

After Argo left the area I went outside to go check on how everyone was progressing with the quest. First up was Aaron, he was the strongest of the group and also the biggest. His boulder had visible cracks and each time he hit there was already a faint light coming from his hand. Aaron saw me observing him and turned towards me to salute me.

"Good morning sir! "

"Good morning Aaron how are you?" I asked

"I'm doing great sir! I'm almost done with the boulder, although I think it is because of my STR stat." he said.

"That's okay, as long as you get the skill you can become an unarmed badass of some sort since you only use a shield as both protection and a weapon. Plus, so far you've done well in your progress to achieve the skill." I said.

His face brightened up at my compliment. "Thank you sir! I'll be sure not to disappoint you, I'll be done by tonight." He said enthusiastically.

"All right continue with what you were doing. I'm going to check on the others." I said while saluting back.

"Yes sir!" he replied.

I walked over to the others. They were all trying to destroy the boulders in pairs. Kiana and Neo working together and doing so pretty well. The next pair was Xaxa and Johnny Black, I would say they would be a good pair for a long time. I didn't see Loki around so I assumed he went somewhere. I knew that everyone's weapons were taken away so he definitely wasn't going to go and grind unless if he had a spare weapon.

Everyone noticed me observing all of them and turned to greet me. I greeted them all back.

"Good morning sir!" they chorused.

"Good morning everyone how are you all doing?" I asked.

"We are doing fine sir." Kiana answered.

"Really? Are you all taking breaks from time to time?"

"Yeah we are but it's only like ten minutes anyways." Said Neo.

"Well it's a good thing to do anyway, its good to rest from time to time." I said.

"Do we have to do anything right now?" asked Xaxa.

"No we don't, all you have to do is break those boulders then we can get moving to the next objective which would be the labyrinth so that we can progress to the next floor." I answered.

"Alright, lets get back to work then guys." He said.

"Yeah!" everyone shouted.

Hmm, looks like that's everyone I might as well return to Argo. See what she has to say. I turned around and headed towards the exit of the plateau. When I arrived at the exit I didn't see anyone nearby. "Where is she I thought she said she'd be here." I thought. Then as if right on time a message popped up in front of me with a small bell sound effect. I opened it and it was Argo not that I was really surprised. It was a long message so I skimmed over it and all it had were directions and Argo complaining I was taking way too long. Attached was another small map filled with directions and ways to reach her. There were two ways, the first path was efficient but slow and the other one was dangerous and fast.

I really wanted to have some fun and reach her quickly just in case she got herself into trouble again but I doubt that'd happen. She'd just run, hide and wait for me, Argo's smart, she knows when to cut and run. I ran to my right and followed down the path. I entered a small forest filled with dead trees with no leaves it had a creepy vibe to it. I kept running through and ahead of me I see a large gap almost like a divide in the ground like a canyon. I looked to the left and the right and didn't see the end of the divide. It seemed that the area that I was in seemed to be closest to the other side. I look at the ground that I stood on and unsheathed my dagger and slammed it into the ground. It made a _tuft_ sound as it entered. I tried moving my dagger a bit to see if it would loosen, but it didn't and stayed put. "I think I have to do something insane." I muttered. I pulled out my dagger and walked a good distance away from the ledge and psyched myself up. I got ready to run to jump to the other side. I started to run with a build-up of speed getting faster every meter. I reached the edge and took a leap of faith-

I was falling while moving forward and plunged the dagger into the wall of dirt that I collided into. "Holy fucking shit, I thought I was dead! Thank god I'm wearing light armor." I looked down and immediately regretted doing so. I am not afraid of heights I just don't like the idea of falling.

I started to climb up the wall, moving at least half a meter each time. I had to adjust the position of my dagger to provide adequate leverage for me to push myself up. I was just very scared of falling and eventually I reached the top of the ledge, stabbing the dagger into the ground above me I pulled myself up and out of the danger zone and rolled around the ground breathing heavily. "I swear I'm never doing that again. I'm going over it next time." I said with a sigh.

I continued my run towards Argo by following the last of the directions. I eventually reached a cave and Argo was standing just outside waiting for me. Quickly walked towards her and she gave me a wave.

"Yo, what took you so long?" she asked.

"Oh nothing, maybe because I had to jump across a canyon!?" I exclaimed.

"Pfft, nyahahaha you actually went that way?" she asked almost rhetorically.

"Yes I did but I thought by dangerous you meant a lot of monsters not a cliff!" I replied.

"Okay! Okay! Sorry about that!" she apologized.

"Yeah, okay its fine. I forgive you."

"Anyway I'm going to give you a small briefing about what we're looking for. In the beta test the floor boss on floor two was not just one boss, but two. Their names were Nato the Colonel, and Baran the General, both are not special, but the main problem was just that you had to fight them both at the same time. Right now, we're trying to find out if there are any upgrades to the two bosses or something even worse. Anyway, let's get inside." She said.

I gave her a nod for approval and followed her inside. The cave was dark and humid making the inside cold and damp. I didn't have any night vision skills so I was practically blind. All I could do was follow the sound of Argo's footsteps as we walked through. Then I couldn't hear Argo's footsteps anymore. Then after waiting a while for more sounds of Argo's footsteps, something brushed itself against my back, out of reflex I swiftly grabbed the object and held it up, while unleashing my dagger and pointing it at the object.

"Ack! I didn't know you could get that scary, nyahahah… Oh shit." Said Argo while occasionally glancing over my shoulder.

"Hey what's wrong?" I said with concern, while letting go of her arm, and putting one of my hands on her shoulder.

"Turn around and look at the wall." She replied while pointing at a mural on the wall of the cave.

I turned around and looked at the wall, on the wall, it showed us three big figures with horns on their heads, and around them several small human-like figures. The figure Argo was pointing at had large horns and a crown on its head, and was bigger than the other two.

"What is this? I thought there were only two of these bosses." I said to myself.

"That's the thing there is _only_ supposed to be _two_ , but I think that proves us both wrong." She said while pointing at the mural.

I took a closer look at the humanoid figures which were almost five times smaller than the three other figures with long horns. I saw that the human forces were split into three. The first group closest to the monsters held swords in their hands, the second on the far left side, figures held circular disks which looked like rings were being thrown towards the monsters and the rings also looked like they were coming back which intrigued me, and lastly the figures on the far right held bows. The bows had me excited, because clearly it meant that we would need them, but I had to continue down the cave since Argo had continued to go down the path.

"Ann-chan check this out this is an amazing find." Said Argo. I was slightly annoyed she didn't stop calling me by that nickname.

I followed her voice and continued walking down the cave while looking at the walls. It seemed to be telling a story, the pictures only showed the monsters getting beaten up as I walked through the cave. Eventually, I reached Argo and held my torch up to the picture she was looking at. What it displayed terrified me, the largest figure was breathing, what looked like fire, or ice?

"This is bad, this is very, very bad." I said shaking my head.

"Yeah, but at least now we know right?" she said reassuringly.

"Right." I replied.

"The cave extends from here so let's continue and see what we can find." She said while continuing through the cave.

"Yeah sure…" I said unsure of what lies ahead of us.

Argo ran all the way to the end while I was at walking looking around checking if we missed anything. I was checking the walls and ceiling of the cave and nothing was there, so I sped up my pacing and reached Argo. The cave opened up into a wide area almost as if someone carved it into the stone. There were pillars leading up to a pedestal which was elevated up from the ground. The pedestal was in the middle and around it were pillars going in a spiral climbing up.

"Shall we?" I heard Argo ask.

"Yes. Let's see what we can find." I answered.

We walked into the opening and walked down a path leading to the middle. On the pedestal was a bow, its arms had a beautiful pattern on the wood that it was made of. The string was gray and almost invisible from afar, making the bow look like a long curved sword, and not like an actual bow. I walked up the stairs leading towards the bow and paused for a moment, before Argo called out to me.

"Yo Athlan, if you're going to grab that bow get ready to bolt or to fight." She called out from behind me.

"Yeah I know, I'm not a newbie to games you know? I'm just getting ready to run." I called back.

I didn't hear a reply so I continued to go up the stairs and reached the top where the bow was placed. I reached out and grabbed it with my left hand, pulling it out of its confines on the pedestal. I saw arrows in a quiver below the bow, and pulled it out as well, and placed it on my back, taking out and keeping three of the arrows in my bow arm. Then the pillars surrounding us started to rumble and shake, that was when the lowest pillar lit up with a faint blue glow. I ran towards it and jumped on top of it and on the opposite pillar a small plate on the pillar glowed a bright red. I nocked an arrow that I took from my hand from my bow arm, and aimed it at the small plate while pulling back the string with my right arm. Pulling back wasn't that hard since my strength stat was pretty okay for my level. The hard part was aiming since the bow didn't have a sight. I aimed the bow where I thought the arrow would go and released the string, launching the arrow at a high speed.

The arrow struck true and hit the plate near the bullseye. The plate then started to glow green instead of red. I saw that a pillar higher than that of mine was now glowing a faint blue while the pillar that I was standing on was now the color of white quartz. I continued to jump up the pillars with some difficulty. I reached the pillar glowing blue and looked at the pillar across from me and as expected another small plate was protruding from it. Following the same routine of grabbing an arrow from the hand holding my bow, and nocking the arrow on the string again. I aimed and pulled back on the string making sure to aim a tad bit higher to make sure to compensate for the drop. I released and the arrow, and it was able to hit the left side of the target.

Once again a pillar glowed once more and this time it was the highest one. I made my way up the pillars and almost slipping off of one by accident because I wasn't able to land my feet in the correct way. After a few more jumps from one pillar to another I was able to reach the top. I did the usual routine and was ready to fire but when I looked around, there was nothing glowing green.

"Ann-chan above you!" shouted Argo.

I looked up and saw a glowing green orb. I pulled up my bow and aimed it up, holding the arrow in place making sure it didn't fall off. I made sure to adjust my aim since I was shooting an arrow straight up, but this time as I pulled back my string I had little to no difficulty pulling it back. My arm started to glow blue as the system took over my movements, I felt at ease using this weapon as I've used it in real life as well. I was one of the best archers in my class too. All I had to do was everything I was taught and let the system take over. I let go of the string and it felt like the glowing energy from my right arm was transferred into the arrow. The arrow was glowing a bright blue as it traveled through the air. The arrow hit the orb and it fell down from where it was hanging but it was still glowing. I pulled out an arrow from the quiver on my back and nocking it with haste. I pulled back on the string and aimed my bow ahead of where the orb was going to fall and I released the arrow.

Like shooting a bird out of the sky the orb was hit a second time, and this time it was no longer glowing as it fell. I jumped down from where I was standing and went in the direction to where the orb fell. I was able to locate the orb. I picked it up and with a quick examination, it seemed to split into two equal parts. I broke it apart and inside was a stone tablet, Argo came and quickly snatched it out of my hands before I had a chance to read it.

"Thank-you!" she said while grabbing the slab of stone. "Okay so what do we have here…" she mumbled while looking over the note.

While she was reading it I took one last peak inside the orb and all that was left was a ring. I picked it up and I was able to add it and a bow and some arrows to my inventory officially claiming them as mine. I pressed a few buttons and accessed the accessories tab in my menu and checked out the ring. I looked for the item and found it in the midst of all the other items I had and it was called 'The Mark of a Ranger'. I selected the item and equipped it. The ring itself had no bonus effect in it, so it must've been a mission item only. It was a gold band with an engraving of two daggers overlapping each other, and with a bow on top on them. A few moments after equipping the ring I received a notification saying a completed 'The Ranger's Test' quest. I gained the 'Bow and Arrow' skill in my menu. I was very happy to receive such a skill this early in the game. I would be a much better asset to the people fighting the bosses on the frontline now that I had a weapon I preferred. Although I kept it secret from Argo, unless she noticed the glow from my arm from earlier, for now, it was best that I kept it hidden there were more important things at the moment

"Ann-chan the tablet is important, I need to get this to the clearers now. The most notable lines are to 'beware the shine in the eyes of Asterius the Taurus King.' And 'The crown is his most treasured possession.' It means that we have to look out for when his eyes glow or shine and that his crown is what seems to be a weakness." She said in a rushed but serious manner.

"Okay, we have to get this news to them as soon as possible. Oh, and give me a portion of the col when you sell the info." I said with a knowing grin.

"Yeah definitely, now let's get moving." She said as she hurried off back towards the entrance of the cave.

Argo and I ran back out. I followed her all the way back to the plateau, and she turned around to face me.

"Thanks for the help Ann-chan, but it looks like this is where we hafta part ways. I need to distribute the info about the boss and the quest." She said.

"Yeah no problem Argo… just stay safe out there." I said with a sincere voice.

"Aww what is this? I thought you were trying to get with that girl in your group but suddenly old Ann-chan is trying to charm me? You dog!" She teased.

"Hahaha… I'm not going after Kiana, but I know someone who is~" I said with a cheeky tone.

"Oh? And who might that be?" curiously asked Argo.

"You have to pay me first." I said with a smile.

"Hmm… seems like Ann-chan is learning from me. Well never mind then I don't need to know anyways." She said disappointedly.

"Okay then, anyway I have to go now." I said.

"It's all good Ann-chan I'll see ya later." She replied.

She ran down the road and likely towards the nearest town. I waved goodbye as she disappeared. After she disappeared I stalked back to the plateau. When I arrived I saw that Aaron was done destroying his boulder, as well as the other two pairs too. I looked around and saw a bull coming out of nowhere and destroying the boulder it was heading towards I tracked where it came from and saw Loki standing with a red cloth in his hands.

"I am soo proud of my kiddies…" I mumbled jokingly.

I approached the biggest group which contained the two pairs and Aaron. Loki soon joined us after he cleaned himself off from 'guiding' the bull. I doubt Loki would've gotten away scot-free. I was the first one to speak up. "Good evening everyone, I see you've all finished your quests. How was the experience and do you all feel stronger?"

Kiana was the first to speak up out of all of them. "I don't think stronger is the best way to describe how I feel although I think I'm more capable in handling enemies now." She said with an honest tone in her voice.

Neo her partner chimed in saying. "I would have to agree with Kiana, but I do feel a little more confident so I guess that counts ehehe… I tested it out and you could go like- wham slam bam!" He said while making childish movements and sounds.

Xaxa spoke for both his partner and himself. "We definitely feel stronger, we think the skill can be used to make our CQC more efficient."

Loki and Aaron just nodded in agreement to all of their statements I guess they didn't really have much to say. I'm pretty sure the only person that could be able to seriously use it, was Aaron since he didn't have any other weapon other than his shield.

"That's good to hear, I'm pretty sure you're all exhausted, so let's take a rest for the night and get moving back to the city in the morning." I said.

We all dispersed and went to do some other things we needed to do. I looked around and saw that Kirito and Asuna were still here. Kirito was almost done with his rock, while Asuna seemed to be staring at the rock. I'm pretty sure if you looked close enough you could see imaginary lasers trying to bore into the hole. I felt like they would be done by tomorrow. I really didn't want to approach Asuna in fear of being death stared. Kirito he was… well still hitting his damned rock, he has to have a really big reserve of determination. I approached him and the closer I got, I saw that his knuckles seemed bruised from all the punching he's been doing. I looked on and wanted to just turn around and leave, but they were still my friends. I approached Kirito and he noticed me and stopped what he was doing to greet me.

"Hey Athlan I guess you're leaving then?" He asked.

"Yeah we are going to leave be tomorrow." I replied.

"I noticed you were gone for some time, why is that?"

"I was doing something with 'The Rat', and while I'm on that topic I wanted to confirm something." I said.

"What is it?"

"How many bosses does floor two have?" I asked.

"The second floor had two bosses. They're not too tough, it's just that it forces the raid team to split into two." He responded.

"Hmm… well that settles it. I went out with Argo and found something interesting." Kirito looked at me curiously. "The second floor now has a third boss. My guess is that it'll show up when one of the two side-bosses are killed." I mused.

"Wait what!? How do you know!?" He exclaimed.

"Well I did some stuff with Argo, one thing led to another, and yeah here we are." I said calmly and as vaguely as possible.

"Huh? I still don't get it…" he said.

"Well you aren't supposed to get it, just ask Argo when you get the chance. I'm pretty sure you'll see her pre~tty soon."

"Okay sure anyway, how did you finish this side-quest?" he asked.

"Oh nothing really, I just walked into the forest in that direction." I said out loud while pointing my finger towards the forest. "Found the nearest bull and led it here using a red shirt I had in my inventory."

"Huh, so it was that easy?" he said with an impressed tone.

"Well my precious shirt did end up destroyed but other than that I wasn't harmed." I looked at Kirito who just gave me a weird glare.

"Ok… Well you should talk to Asuna on how to destroy this thing. She doesn't have anyone to help her, not like your group, you guys have partners." He said.

"First of all, my group will not stay together for too long, or at least I don't think so. I just saved these guys and once I see that they can handle themselves. I'm gonna disband the group, I'm not a leader type after all. I don't care if some of them will stay together, in fact I actually hope some of them stay together for their own good. Secondly, I think Asuna heard me when we talked about that bull… heh." I said with a steady tone.

Kirito looked over my shoulder and had a surprised expression when he did. "See? She isn't there. She'll probably be back soon."

"Huh, I didn't notice her leave. Well I guess that's her problems solved. Oh, I wanted to ask you something, since I'm pretty sure I won't be able to ask you this tomorrow." He said.

"What is it?" I responded.

"You seem… I don't know… too mature I guess? …There was something off about you… I just can't place it." He said.

"Well that's one way to put it, but no I was never mature, or so I thought. I just change my demeanor to fit the role I'm in. I can do many things that I'm pretty sure that you'll eventually be able to see for yourself, but in truth. Inside I'm just a kid who can't do anything right without instructions." I said in full honesty.

"What do you mean? If you had no instructions?" he said curiously.

"In a way I make those instructions myself unless they're given, but from day one my mind was focused, I had a goal and I still do." I said.

"Hmm… I guess that's a good thing. Just stay safe out there okay? You are one of the only people I can trust right now." He said sincerely.

"I'll try." No promises.

"…That's good enough for me. I'll get back to work now." Said Kirito while turning to continue hitting the boulder.

"Sure I'll see you next time." I'm pretty sure I won't see him until the second boss itself. I don't even know if he'll be attending, him being labelled 'Beater' after all.

I went into my small hut and sat down onto my makeshift bed. I pulled out my small notebook and a charcoal pencil, I wrote down everything that happened today and anything else I deemed important from the past month with attention to detail. I drew areas on the second and first floors that were important or simply just caught my interest. I didn't notice the time passing and when I was done it was dark, and the only thing lighting up my notebook was a small candle that I probably lit up without even being conscious of doing so. I was satisfied with what I drew and wrote down, and I also listed down all objectives for tomorrow making sure to write down some supplies that were needed for our group. Afterwards I closed my notebook and pencil into my satchel. I went to bed that night thinking of the possibilities of the future, but also wondering about some decisions that I'll have to make in the future.

* * *

XXX

December 7th 2022

Entry 1: Our day was productive, we were able to return to Urbus and buy necessary supplies needed for a long trip out. I have every intention of making sure we get as much scouting of the second floor as we can. I was also able to contact Argo while we were in Urbus. She gave me my share from her selling the information about the boss. She said something – indecent – about Kibaou, and this new guy called Lind who took over for Diavel. After that she just left and disappeared.

Entry 2: Argo unexpectedly called me before we were just about to leave. She told me to be cautious, about a group or a person currently going around stalking players. I also paid her for information on the second floor. She said something about a mid-boss, whose attack pattern was rather simple and easy to evade. The location of the mid-boss itself is unknown to her because she doubts that the boss itself will be in the same location, but she still gave me her estimates on its location. I paid her promptly and thanked her for the assistance.

Entry 3: We are pretty far from Urbus and I'm still on edge and looking out for anything weird. Other than that we were able to scout out the area where Argo estimated where the mid-boss would be and were able to find it. It was bigger and taller than most of the other bulls we've encountered before.

Entry 4: It is getting late, and the information that I got from Argo this morning was spot on with the details on the Bullbous Bow's attacks. I think with enough preparation we just might be able to kill it. I spread everyone out to find a good place to rest for the night, hopefully a suitable location will be found before dark comes. I'll be on my own for now I hope they stay together with their partners.

XXX

* * *

"Aaagh… You know we should take a break we've been moving around since this afternoon." Kiana yawned.

She's soo cute… wait what am I thinking!? "U-uh yeah I think we should, and anyway Athlan shouldn't know, we were dispersed to find a safe area to rest up after-all. Plus, we found an area suitable for tonight so let's just take a small break before we go find the others." I said. There was a small area we found in the depths of the forest we were in, Athlan-san sent us out to find a suitable area to rest up for the coming night.

"Did you message them already? If not I'll-" she asked.

"Yeah nothing to worry about they said they're coming" looking up from my messages window.

"Hey don't cut me off like that! At least let me finish!" she said annoyed.

"What? I just didn't want you to waste your breath. Plus can't you be a little more lenient I did save your life after all." I replied.

"Neon it's impolite you dumbass, and it was Athlan who saved me not you."

"You know that it wasn't _only_ him right?"

"Well yeah of course, but I'm damn well sure he told you all what to do." She paused as she looked around. "Moving over that for now, this place isn't a safe zone so how will we be safe for the night?"

I quickly looked around as well and said "Well the game has something which works around that. We can use items such as the Camping Gear where it will make a safe zone for at least twenty-four hours. Although if the owner of the tent leaves a certain distance the item will de-spawn, but if one of the owner's party or guild members are still in or around the safe zone the item will stay."

"Huh ok pretty cool, I guess you have one?" she asked.

"No, I gave those to Aaron. He did head the same direction with us since we split off into groups so he should arrive pretty soon."

"Huh so all we gotta do is wait then huh?"

I nodded and Kiana sat down next to a nearby tree and relaxed herself. We waited a few minutes and as I said, Aaron arrived soon after with Loki. The Xaxa, and Johnny came soon after, everyone except Athlan. We waited as the sun was disappearing and the sky grew dim. The forest was starting to darken where we couldn't see at least ten feet ahead of ourselves. We started to get worried for him. We set up camp for at least seven people, the game registered the seven member party we had and automatically made the camp. The wonders of virtual reality huh?

"Where did Athlan go? I sent him a few PMs that everyone was together and where we all are." Aaron asked.

"I dunno he got lost maybe? He'll come eventually, but for now we know he's alive we can see his health bar after all." I replied

"I guess so it hasn't depleted nor increased, so I believe he's fine." Aaron said in an attempt to reassure everyone "Athlan is a mysterious figure. All of our stories are basically the same. We end up being saved by him even though we don't know him at all." Aaron looked at everyone around him, sitting next to the campfire. "I'm sure he can handle himself. Athlan is pretty strong since he was able to save us all." We all heard the rustling of leaves and we all turned to see Athlan coming out of the brush.

"Speak of the devil…" Aaron said idly.

. . .

* * *

. . .

"And he shall come… Why in the world does no one ever say the whole thing eh?" I said.

Everyone stood up and looked at me with expressions I could describe as both surprise and relief. "Where the hell were you!?" Kiana shouted.

"Oh… erm… I had a few… errands to run… yeah…" I wasn't gonna tell them I got lost! I forgot I could use the map to find them and when I finally remembered I was led to areas difficult to traverse in the dark forest. Screw this game!

"Yeah… errands huh? You sure you didn't get lost?" Aaron cheekily grinned at me.

"Shut up, you'll never know anyway." I grinned back trying to hiding my inner embarrassment. Fuck my confidence is slowly shrinking.

"Oh I don't have to worry about that. I know you'll fess up eventually." He replied while looking confident as if he knew he hit the mark.

"Uh-huh sure… I'm done with dealing with today I'm gonna go to bed. Oh, and don't worry I already ate so you guys enjoy yourselves with whatever you can make."

I was extremely tired at this point and went to the tent closest to me when I saw there were seven separate tents for each of us. I went to sleep almost immediately upon closing my eyes after lying down.

The rest of the group which sat at the campfire brought out different kinds of rations and started to eat together. The crackling of the wood which actually sounded very relaxing. Gradually everyone got tired from chatting aimlessly among each other and went to bed. The only people left were Xaxa, and Johnny Black. Their hoods were off and they could see each other's faces which was lit up by the campfire. They both looked somewhat normal only Johnny in particular who had gray or somewhat white hair.

"Hey erm… Johnny was it?" said Xaxa.

"Yeah? What's up? " replied Johnny.

"Remember back when we saved… uhh Kiana right?"

"Yeah what about her?"

"No, I'm not talking about her in particular I'm talking about when we subdued those bandits." Clarified Xaxa.

"Oh yeah what about the bandits? Did something catch your interest?" asked Johnny.

"Well, when we had those bandits subdued how did you feel? Knowing full well we could've just killed them then and there?" said Xaxa while making gestures with his hands.

"I felt… I don't know… empowered I guess? I knew that we could've offed them, but I knew if we killed them. There would be hell to pay." Replied Johnny.

"Oh? How so?" Hell to pay huh? I can't say I haven't been punished severely before.

"Hell to pay, because I'm pretty sure Athlan would've kicked us out instantly, and that we would have gotten a reputation as player killers." Said Johnny.

"I know, but they were orange players, how do we know they haven't killed anyone already?" asked Xaxa.

"I don't know but at that point all that's left is to believe in the best case scenario and hope that they haven't done the extreme. All I know is that if things were different I might have killed them." Replied Johnny with a cheerful beginning with a slowly darkening tone until the end.

"You too huh? I guess I can't blame you for thinking that wa- Aaagh" yawned Xaxa. "I'm gonna go to bed. You can stay up and keep watch if you want. Although I wouldn't worry about it we are in a safe-zone after-all." Said Xaxa while walking towards the group of tents.

* * *

 **Oh man it has been a while huh? Well to whomever is reading this thanks for stopping by or coming back whichever of the two it is I don't know. Thanks for Reading! Okay so my own remarks:**

 **The story was written over a long period of time, so changes in tone may be glaringly obvious and noticeable. I'm very sorry.**

 **This took a while to make because of my hectic high-school schedule and lack of time.**

 **I was coming up with another story which is currently a W.I.P. I'm not sure if I'll release it on but the theme or topic is War Thunder. WT stories are rare nigh on impossible to find so I thought if I could make one which was good and followed the Meta of the game then hurray! Right?**

 **Summer is here so progress will be much faster. Yay!**

 **Reviews are super helpful to me since I can see what I need to improve on. I know right now my characterization for characters is very poor, but my problem is that I'm trying to find certain character archetypes to match characters to.**

 **I'll see you all in the next chapter. – FrankieonPCin1080**


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